Think about this:

DESVARIEUX: Many are barely surviving, and taxpayers are the ones subsidizing this low-wage economy, according to a study by public policy organization Demos. Data shows that hundreds of billions of public funds go to private companies that pay low wages. There are more than half a million low-wage private sector jobs funded by federal contracts. Demos found that government contracts support almost two million low-wage jobs. That's more than McDonald's and Walmart combined.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?opt ... ival=10794

So raise the minimum wage.

This is an extremely important fact so many miss when they oppose increases to the minimum wage or workers fighting for higher wages.

Employers have basically held down wages for most while increasing them by huge amounts at the top.

When people can't manage on these low wages, they turn to government for help.

Yet they have also lowered taxes for those at the top, so government does not have the resources to help.

What the corporatists don't get is that they are slowly strangling their markets out of existence.
Of course, our current crop of CEOs don't give a crap about their companies' long term futures as long as the get their huge bonuses and multi-million dollar golden parachutes.

wait: what % of minimum wage jobs use federal $?

Well, the article only mentions one by name;

Melissa works part-time as a cook for McDonald's at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington.


I think they missed the point that she works FOR McDonald's.

The OP clearly states that they are referring private sector jobs.

In this area, Walmart was counseling their employees on how to apply for public assistance, specifically Medicaid, several years ago. Caused quite a stir.

What the article states is...

Federal Contractors Employ More Low-Wage Workers Than Walmart and McDonald's Combined, While Paying Top Execs. $24 billion

That's because the federal government is much bigger than WalMart and McDonald's combined, so of course they hire more people and contractors than do those two corporations.

Of course the government is bigger than two private companies ~ but I read that comment differently than you do, SciFi ~ federal contractors are not feds per se ~ but they are funded by federal contracts ~ so, by extension, the feds are supporting those low wages ~ I read the op commentary as being a sort of parable on morality ~

Sooz

.

Well, the way I see is, the free marketplace would and should decide what people are worth. If someone has the skills that a business needs, then they will pay them enough to entice that person to come work for them. If a company makes offers that are too low, then the people will turn down those offers and go work for someone else.

What if I am fresh out of high school and I felt I was worth $24/hour? The businesses would say, "Oh, yeah? Well don't think so. We think you're worth $7.00/hour and that's all we will pay."

My options are: I can accept the job at $7.00/hour, or I can go find that job that will pay me $24.00/hour. If I truly am worth $24.00/hour, then some company will pay me that much!

I don't feel it's truly the free enterprise system to force businesses to pay people more than they want to. If people feel they are worth more than some company wants to pay them, then let them go find that job that will pay them more!

it is not that black and white. companies don't generally pay based on what you are "worth". they pay as little as they feel they can.

i pay $14 to start at my company. why? because i want a guy to show up, on time, with clean hands, not hung over, and do his job without complaint. sweep the damn floors. please. and if you are good at that- try welding THIS. i expect a lot. i expect people to grow, to change, to get better. and if they don't, i have no interest in them.

what this really says to me is that companies either don't want people to grow and change, or they have very low expectations. that says more about them than it does about their employees, yet we constantly blame the employees.

And how do you eat and where do you sleep until you find that someone willing to pay you what you want? ~ you seem to be ignoring the common sense needed to demand any salary ~ you also seem to be ignoring how many people who DO deserve $24/hour are competing for the fewer and fewer jobs willing to pay it ~ and you seem to be ignoring demographics ~ $24/hour is somewhere around mid 40s annually ~ not bad for a young hs graduate with no further degrees ~ but do you have any idea how difficult it is for a family to live on that?

Sooz

the debate about the minimum wage in the US needs to end. if a business is not paying enough to keep a person out of poverty, then those costs WILL get socialized, one way or another. not DEMANDING that they do so guarantees "socialism".

keeping a human being starving makes no economic, social or moral sense. it does, however, make very good business sense. and anyone that cannot recognize that difference doesn't understand the first thing about governments, unions, and perhaps even morality.

Your "free marketplace", aka laissez-faire, is the cause of the 2008 recession.

stripping the middle class of wealth is a death spiral. we either stop it, or it stops us. we either continue as the worlds largest economy, or we become Denmark. it really IS that simple.

wake up, America.

Acyually, the corporatists saw that coming long ago, mac. The outsourcing of jobs is all about raping the next huge consumer group - China.

but it doesn't have to be that way, oskar.

look at Germany. the place is run by big corporations, as well. but the average auto worker there is making over $60/hr. they have the best economy in Europe. their auto sales topped ours last year. they are doing everything right.

we have lost our way, oskar. but it is not necessarily the end. ONE LUCID MOMENT among Americans would change it. that is all it would take.

edit: but i will admit that every possible source of information available to me does not give me a lot of hope.

Of course it doesn't have to be that way but it is and will continue to be until the "too big to fail" actually fail.

mac, I understand and agree with most of what you're saying ~ I'm not taking anything away from the German success, but I'm not convinced that the German auto industry vs the American auto industry is a valid comparison for a few reasons ~ first, I don't think the Euros value problems hit Germans as intensely as the American dollars value hit us ~ we were truly teetering on the brink of the abyss ... and many still are ~ also, many German auto nameplates out-price American nameplates by BIG bucks ~ and their auto exports have increased exponentially, where ours have [I think] stagnated at best ~ I'm pretty sure many US auto workers were making $50-$60/hour [+/-] some years ago when our auto market was hot [being fueled by a solid middle class] and the unions were strong ~ we're making progress [thanks in large part to the auto bailouts] but we're still struggling to recoup what we lost ~

Sooz

You don't recoup. What is lost is lost.
You can recover but I doubt the US will regain its pe-eminent economic position.

Nope. The cause of the 2008 recession was due to deregulating the banking industry and the banks' lending money to people to purchase homes that they could not truly afford. That resulted in homes going into foreclosure, which in turn caused the recession.

The bottomline is: The government should not be dictating to businesses how much they should be paying people. If someone is worth $12/hour, then let them go get that job. If they're truly worth it, then some business will pay it.

Companies need employees to stay in business. If everyone is finding jobs elsewhere that pay more, then that business will need to meet those pay rates if they want to stay in business. The reason they are paying $7.00/hour, or whatever the minimum wage is, is because that's how much their employees are worth. If some employee feels they are worth more, then let them go find that job that is willing to pay more in order to get them.

May I mention that Unions are still strong in Krautlandia and that Germans treasure something called social consensus/peace during union contract negotiations? Yes, the right wing over there also vilifies Unions, not very successful I might add.
Oh, the red menace, namely the Social democrats and Die Linke (the left ) could right now build a coalition together with the Green Party and send Mommie Merkel into retirement.
Most likely it will be a great coalition of Social Democrats with the "christian" democratic Union.