Seattle sees fallout from $15 min wage

[Martini_Up]

Καλώς ήλθατε στην Ελλάδα

 

[40calruler]

OK you just made it weird.....Awkward and strange posting.

 

[Just Jim]

Right. I huge loss for people that need a certain number of people. Some of the jobs I hire for are 10 bucks an hour. They do not require anything more than speaking English and ability to use a broom and dustpan.

If I have to pay those folks 15 an hour my 22% labor rate shoots up to 30% easily or more. That is considering I would have to have less employees and have my maintenance staff do clean up that currently the broom pushers do.

I cannot see not losing a lot of time and energy by that and what is better for the economy? 10 people at 10$ an hour or 6 at 15? All it would do for me is make me cut my staff to stay into a reasonable profit and loss and not lose my job for a crazy labor percentage. At least 4 people lose their job no matter what with me. As well as have my expectations of the workload go way up. I will not pay 15 for folks to push brooms. They will need to have maintenance or security experience to apply. That cuts out a lot of folks that are supposedly the reason for the higher wage proposal.

Just making the point that anytime government says it is going to do something for you they really mean they are going to do something to you. That wage increase directly passes on higher cost to the consumer. What they have done is pass on welfare to employers and consumers. However those higher cost take from our standard of living which was the real goal in the first place.

 

[etrain16]

Καλώς ήλθατε στην Ελλάδα

OK you just made it weird.....Awkward and strange posting.

"Welcome to Greece"

Seems appropriate given the context

 

[Chee-to]

Seattle's $15 minimum wage law is supposed to lift workers out of poverty and move them off public assistance. But there may be a hitch in the plan.

Evidence is surfacing that some workers are asking their bosses for fewer hours as their wages rise – in a bid to keep overall income down so they don't lose public subsidies for things like food, child care and rent.

 

[40calruler]

"Welcome to Greece"

Seems appropriate given the context

Yes it does when I know what the heck it means. My ignorant butt just read it as gibberish.

 

[etrain16]

Yes it does when I know what the heck it means. My ignorant butt just read it as gibberish.

Google Translate is my friend I've got family in Sweden, it's the only way we communicate.

 

[brokenarrow]

My wife just finished her BS in Nursing. Glad she makes a little over $15/hr.

That's beside the point.

10 years ago I remember having a discussion with a "friend" at the time. He and his fiance (and son) were at our house talking about the costs of living and all that jazz. My wife was an CNA, I was a contractor for a cable company getting paid by the piece. Together my wife and I were busting our asses to keep us afloat. I think it was something like I made about $650/week (gross) and she was making 1/2 that. I worked my bubblegum off to ensure that I made the most in every hour I could.

The point: In our discussions with this friend (whom I have lost contact with intentionally), he was bragging about how he knew the minimum amount of hours he had to work at his place of employment to ensure that he would collect maximum benefits from the state. This isn't new knowledge gents. This has been going on for quite some time around this nation. I happened to hear it first hand and witness this.

Interesting how somebody can work minimum wage at that time, receive $500/month in food stamps and get help as well on their housing totalling 800-1000/month while they worked "just enough" to keep them in the zone.

Sickens me. In 12 years of marriage my wife and I were on assistance for TWO months, totalling a whopping $250 (yup, even at our lowest we made right at the top of their scale). Guess it depends who you believe is your provider, you pick who your g/God is.

I agree with you. There is a very large group of "people" in this country who have devoted their life to using the system as full time employment. It makes me mad.

 

[The B]

Seattle's $15 minimum wage law is supposed to lift workers out of poverty and move them off public assistance. But there may be a hitch in the plan.

Evidence is surfacing that some workers are asking their bosses for fewer hours as their wages rise – in a bid to keep overall income down so they don't lose public subsidies for things like food, child care and rent.

Yea... well they probably do better with assistance than with better wages. If going from $20,000 to $30,000 a year causes you to lose $24,000 a year in benefits, you'd probably rather just make less and git mo.

 

[The B]

It's a nanny state, folks... nobody cares about boot-strapping anymore. It's NOT our culture.... you're a relic for your self-sufficiency views. (and should be taxed heavier for them)

 

[Stomper]

It's a nanny state, folks... nobody cares about boot-strapping anymore. It's NOT our culture.... you're a relic for your self-sufficiency views. (and should be taxed heavier for them)

Yeah tell me about it. Last week I had a 65 hour work week and over 40% is just... GONE from the gross to net columns!

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

i, like others here, started from the very bottom and worked my way up to a very comfortable living. my wife worked 3 jobs totaling 40hrs a week while breastfeeding a newborn baby and also took 20 credit hours while earning a bachelors degree. she now is in nursing school and is STILL working 1 job on the weekends to keep our healthcare. IMO that is very commendable. i applaud her work ethic. it PISSES us off when people dont want to go "better" themselves by getting an education or learning a trade.(OMG. i know.what a concept.) instead would rather get handouts, make excuses and be LAZY(because they CAN BE lazy).

one of my first jobs was bagging groceries. the people with the most groceries paid with food stamps. theyd pay for their beer and cigarettes with cash. i would help them out to their cars (7 out of 10 times would be a newer escalade, navigator,BMW or Mercedes. not to mention their kids would be glued to their cellphones

i once heard "poor people have poor ways to make it work" now poor people have middle class ways at the expense of everyone else. the more we hand out the less incentive there is to work hard.

just remember "the more the government gives out,the more the government can take away"

 

[etrain16]

I got a disturbing view into how the system works recently. A friend of my inlaws that I've known for quite a while broke his neck diving about 35 years ago. He was never supposed to walk again, but he can, albeit with great difficulty. He is someone that legitimately qualifies for full time disability, but it wasn't something he wanted.

After having difficulty finding a job that would keep him around, he was finally picked up full time by Goodwill. They trained him and he moved up the ranks to a supervisor position in one of their offices. He moved back to California to be closer to family and the job was able to move with him.

We hadn't seen him for several years, and he was up visiting the in-laws a few weeks ago and we had a chance to chat. We asked how the job was going. He said he wasn't working any more. When we asked why, he stated that it made no sense for him to work. He made more money on disability, which includes housing subsidies, food subsidies, etc., than he did working full time for Goodwill. His comment was "it makes no sense for me to work". I was a bit taken back by a guy who had always wanted to work, but he'd been transformed by a system that simply doesn't encourage working. He's in his early 50's now, and will be on government disability for the rest of his life.

I have to say I'm disappointed in him, if for nothing more than he's given up his desire to be a productive member of society. Even with his disability, he is capable of working, but what desire he had was removed by making it easier for him not to work. That isn't how this should work. We should be encouraging those who can work, to work, and, if necessary, lessening their tax burden so they will at least have an incentive to keep working.

It's a sad state of affairs all around.

 

[The B]

I'm a liberal, that's no secret. I'm pro-public assistance, pro-income tax, am a small business owner who works hard for my pay, and have no problem giving some of what I work for to help those who aren't as blessed as me. All that said, I'm afraid a system that actually encourages not working because it's more beneficial to not... Just isn't sustainable. We definitely have a problem, but I'm just not sure what the solution is.

 

[41Slinger]

Years ago my wife worked for Artic Circle. A new lady was hired and worked about a month and quit, her reason for quiting, working cost her to much of her existing income that she already got from welfare and food stamps and she couldn't afford the pay cut. What's wrong with this picture? Now it's generational and normal.

 

[Just Jim]

I'm a liberal, that's no secret. I'm pro-public assistance, pro-income tax, am a small business owner who works hard for my pay, and have no problem giving some of what I work for to help those who aren't as blessed as me. All that said, I'm afraid a system that actually encourages not working because it's more beneficial to not... Just isn't sustainable. We definitely have a problem, but I'm just not sure what the solution is.

The solution will come when ya'll run out of other people's money to spend

 

[jim97701]

Stopped into Taco Bell tonight and saw some of the "we deserve $15.00 an hour" employees, All I can say is OMG

 

[USAF Medic]

My wife just finished her BS in Nursing. Glad she makes a little over $15/hr.

That's beside the point.

10 years ago I remember having a discussion with a "friend" at the time. He and his fiance (and son) were at our house talking about the costs of living and all that jazz. My wife was an CNA, I was a contractor for a cable company getting paid by the piece. Together my wife and I were busting our asses to keep us afloat. I think it was something like I made about $650/week (gross) and she was making 1/2 that. I worked my bubblegum off to ensure that I made the most in every hour I could.

The point: In our discussions with this friend (whom I have lost contact with intentionally), he was bragging about how he knew the minimum amount of hours he had to work at his place of employment to ensure that he would collect maximum benefits from the state. This isn't new knowledge gents. This has been going on for quite some time around this nation. I happened to hear it first hand and witness this.

Interesting how somebody can work minimum wage at that time, receive $500/month in food stamps and get help as well on their housing totalling 800-1000/month while they worked "just enough" to keep them in the zone.

Sickens me. In 12 years of marriage my wife and I were on assistance for TWO months, totalling a whopping $250 (yup, even at our lowest we made right at the top of their scale). Guess it depends who you believe is your provider, you pick who your g/God is.

TIP: a BSN NURSE MAKES $48.00 An Hour working for the VA. The Nurses are worth every penny.

 

[Member 5605]

TIP: a BSN NURSE MAKES $48.00 An Hour working for the VA. The Nurses are worth every penny.

Yup, about 10% less if not with the VA.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

13 more months till my wifes a nurse. yep. im countin the days. ha ha