Biden stimulus bill $15 minimum wage

[busybee01]

That is so much bullshit. This is not a pure capitalist society. There clearly should be a national minimum wage. You are using to same fear mongering that is so much bull. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing businesses that refuse to pay a decent wage.

Absolutely correct. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing people who optionally decide not to make themselves more valuable to employers. We should quit subsidizing those people so they try harder and become more productive people in our society.

On my last job we had customers that used temporary services exclusively. It gave them an opportunity to try people out first before hiring them. If they worked at the company for several months successfully, they were offered a full-time job when one became available. They paid the temp services a contract price if they hired any of the temp company workers.

It also gave companies the ability to fluctuate their staff based on business activity. When they got busy and asked the temp workers if they could work overtime, many refused. Why is that? Because it would interfere with their government stipend. They were allowed to make X amount of money. If they made more than that, it was deducted from their food stamp allowance. In fact in states that increased their MW to $15.00 an hour, employees demanded to work less hours so they could stay under that government limit.

Excuse me but we should be stepping in if people need help. Businesses are responsible for creating this situation by refusing to pay fair wages. Quit the bullshit. Businesses will pay as little as they can get away with.

 

[busybee01]

Again that has not been the case. While the infection rate is lower, it still occurs all too frequently. Several jurisdictions who have tried in-person classes have abandoned them. That was predictable except to Trump who talked about witholding money from districts that did not hold in-person classes. Also Trump was too fixated on opening the economy than slowing the coronavirus. The result is that it is out of control.

Trump talked about withholding money from districts that did not conduct in normal school activity under a Democrat led House?

You won't admit anything will you? You are truly a member of the Trump cult.

Trump threatens to withhold funding to schools if they don't reopen this fall (msn.com)

I am sure you will find a way to spin it.

 

[busybee01]

Why don't you shut up with the commie nonsense. There is nothing commie about voting by mail. It should be expanded.

Of course you feel that way. Mail-in voting attracts politically ignorant voters, and Democrats depend on the politically ignorant to win elections.

There is no evidence of that. Trump attracts ignorant voters. He is runninjg the biggest con ever and lajughing all the way to the bank at you.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

There is no evidence of that. Trump attracts ignorant voters. He is runninjg the biggest con ever and lajughing all the way to the bank at you.

I have plenty of evidence. How do those big lib cities vote where poverty and homelessness are common? Do you think anybody with an IQ over 40 voted for Biden?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Again that has not been the case. While the infection rate is lower, it still occurs all too frequently. Several jurisdictions who have tried in-person classes have abandoned them. That was predictable except to Trump who talked about witholding money from districts that did not hold in-person classes. Also Trump was too fixated on opening the economy than slowing the coronavirus. The result is that it is out of control.

Trump talked about withholding money from districts that did not conduct in normal school activity under a Democrat led House?

You won't admit anything will you? You are truly a member of the Trump cult.

Trump threatens to withhold funding to schools if they don't reopen this fall (msn.com)

I am sure you will find a way to spin it.

Nothing to spin. It was a Tweet, not an official declaration. So how many schools did Trump defund? Like I said, Trump doesn't have that ability. It's such a non-story I never heard of it before. From one of your very own sources, the Communist News Network:

Washington (CNN) As the coronavirus crisis expands, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would "pressure" governors to open schools in time for the beginning of the coming school year.

He applied some pressure on Wednesday morning. In a tweet in which he accused Democrats, with no evidence, of wanting to keep schools closed for political reasons related to the November election, Trump said he "may cut off funding" if schools are not opened.

Facts First: Trump can't unilaterally cut current federal funding for schools. However, he could possibly restrict some recent pandemic relief funding -- which would likely be challenged in court -- and refuse to sign future legislation for federal grants and bailouts for schools.

Fact-checking Trump's threat to cut off education funding if schools don't reopen

As the coronavirus crisis expands, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would "pressure" governors to open schools in time for the beginning of the coming school year.

www.cnn.com

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Excuse me but we should be stepping in if people need help. Businesses are responsible for creating this situation by refusing to pay fair wages. Quit the bullshit. Businesses will pay as little as they can get away with.

Of course they will. You and I both do the same thing. If you need a new roof on your house, do you hire the most expensive company because they pay their workers better? Of course not, you hire the cheaper company provided they are just as reputable. If you need the transmission rebuilt on your car, do you go to the most expensive place? No, you go to the cheaper priced place providing they do the same quality of work.

Businesses don't open to provide good paying jobs, they open to sell products or services at a profit. The better the profit, the more successful the company; the more pleased their stockholders are. Are you going to buy the most expensive made American product at the store? No. You're going to do what most all of us do and buy the cheapest. That's why unions decayed and places like Walmart became the industry leader in consumer goods. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

It is very reasonable. Biden can't do any worse with the coronavirus virus than Trump did. Since the election, Trump has been consumed with overtutning the election to the exclusion of anything else. Distribution of vaccines has turned into a nightmare and it has allowed the coronavirus to mutate into types that are easier to spread which will make it even harder for distribution of vaccines to catch up. Bedewn's coronavirus relief bill makes more sensew than what Republicans put together. I agree with some of Biden's policies and some I do not. However that is a better batting average than Trump. He did very little right.

I could type an entire paragraph on Trump's accomplishments. I can't type one sentence of dementia Joe's. The reason Americans have vaccines today is because of Trump. He signed a contract with Moderna to secure the first 100 million doses for Americans first. Plus there is a rider for an additional 500 million more doses if needed. This mutation you speak of was first discovered in Europe--not the US, and any virologist will tell you that mutations are quite normal.

What election was Trump trying to overturn besides his own? The commies spent their entire first two years in leadership and tens of millions of dollars trying to throw Trump out and stop his selected justice from taking the bench. They impeached him with no impeachable offense or crime committed, just like this last impeachment which Piglosi should be arrested for treason.

The vaccine distribution is on state levels, not federal. The federal level the vaccines went out the second they were produced. Trump did a fantastic job.

 

[danielpalos]

Minimum wage used to be 25 cents , let that sink in

The minimum wage was not adjusted for inflation for around a decade and inflation still happened; let that sink in.

 

[Lovebears65]

I can't wait to pay for $5 buck snicker bars and $8 dollar big Macs

Biden sparks backlash among some progressives over $1,400 stimulus checks in coronavirus relief proposal

President-elect Joe Biden is already facing backlash over the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal designed to combat the economic downturn and deadly pandemic that he outlined on Thursday night.

www.foxbusiness.com

since it is ok for private business can do what they want for their business fire all the liberals and hire all conservatives let them make 15 an hour

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Don't be ridiculous. The only question is how high is should go not whether it should go up. It is so sad that you spout your propaganda. By the way, does Australia chain their employers to the country?

That I don't know. I do know that Europeans buy their own products which is how they keep their unions and people employed. In fact, they said Italy was hit so hard by the virus at first because Italian consumers won't buy a product unless it has a Made In Italy label on it. So they flew in people from China, particularly from Wuhan to work in their industries so they could produce cheaper products.

 

[danielpalos]

I can't wait to pay for $5 buck snicker bars and $8 dollar big Macs

Biden sparks backlash among some progressives over $1,400 stimulus checks in coronavirus relief proposal

President-elect Joe Biden is already facing backlash over the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal designed to combat the economic downturn and deadly pandemic that he outlined on Thursday night.

www.foxbusiness.com

since it is ok for private business can do what they want for their business fire all the liberals and hire all conservatives let them make 15 an hour

Right wingers can't handle morality and having Others do unto them as they are happy to do unto Others.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

You are ridiculous. There is no evidence massive inflation woulde occur. By that standard, we should have price controls on energy prices. Higher energy prices create inflationary pressures. Nor will it drastically increase the cost of living. It would help more than 3.5%. Even in deep red Arkansas, voyers approved a increase in the minimum wage.

Of course it would cause inflation and cost of living increases. Look at commie states like NY or CA. People and businesses are leaving in droves to escape it.

My cousin lives in CA. After the kids grew up and child support stopped, she needed money to keep her house. She had an in-law suite which was nothing more than a bedroom, a kitchenette, a tiny living room and of course a bathroom. She advertised it for $1,300 a month, and she had people pounding at her door to get it. That's over twice as much as I charge for two of my two bedroom apartments where I live.

 

[Oldestyle]

QAgain you have no clue what you are talking about. All you can spout is talking points. There was no massive fraud and Biden getting the most votes in history is reasonable. Just because you say it is not does not make it true.

I know exactly what I'm talking about and can back up my claims. How do you figure people electing dementia Joe is reasonable? Did you look at his policies? Did you listen to what he's said? There is nothing reasonable about it. It's like having a heart that needs surgery and asking if a heart specialist should do it or your dentist.

It is very reasonable. Biden can't do any worse with the coronavirus virus than Trump did. Since the election, Trump has been consumed with overtutning the election to the exclusion of anything else. Distribution of vaccines has turned into a nightmare and it has allowed the coronavirus to mutate into types that are easier to spread which will make it even harder for distribution of vaccines to catch up. Bedewn's coronavirus relief bill makes more sensew than what Republicans put together. I agree with some of Biden's policies and some I do not. However that is a better batting average than Trump. He did very little right.

You think distribution problems has allowed the virus to mutate? You're about as clueless a poster as I've EVER seen on this board! If it wasn't for Trump pushing the vaccines hard we wouldn't even have them now but you want to blame Trump because idiots like Andrew Cuomo can't get their shit together and distribute the vaccines they've been given?

 

[Jake Winker Frogen]

I answered the question, you just do not like the answer.

I must have missed the answer and cannot find it, so if you can humor me, one more time: If $15.00 an hour minimum wage is good for the economy, then $25.00 an hour is even better, correct? And if $25.00 an hour is better, then why not make it the best at $30.00 an hour?

The Cleveland point is a good one, of course employers are going to move if they can, if they are not tied to the current market or can export their goods and services to it after moving to the lowest paid labour market they will, hell most American employers are such savages they would only pay in canned food if it were legal.

But that only highlights several issues with the American economy, how a standard national minimum wage is required and the more subtle question what are the effects on demand in those low wage paying economies?

Exactly, now you have it. Employers will react to a huge minimum wage increase. They will move out of the country because all industry would have to pay their workers more money whether they were paying them minimum wage or not.

As a landlord, I try to give my tenants reasonably priced apartments. But what do I do when my costs start increasing? My grocery bill increases greatly. My plumber charges more money for services or repair. Same for my heating guy. Gasoline for lawn and snow removal equipment. Items I need to buy from Home Depot or my local hardware store for things I repair myself. The answer is I have to increase my rental prices. I won't take the loss. That's not why I bought into this business.

Besides higher rental prices, my tenants are also faced with the same problem I have: the cost of everything they buy went up. So even if they are making more money, how are they ahead?

I have answered the question about 15 dollars vice 25 twice but I cannot do anything about your reading comprehension skills, or lack thereof. (Your own logic would be why not pay one dollar per hour or even in canned food, that would create more jobs.) The premise is primitive.

See again the point about minimum wages increasing consumer demand and not being inflationary if they are below 50% of the medium wage.

As for companies moving out of America, they have been doing that even though America has some of the lowest minimum wages in the developed world.

But most of the American economy is service sector and that cannot move out, it requires the local market to serve.

Right now America is in a deflationary period, service sector wages are low. America needs demand and increasing the minimum wage increases consumer demand. Let alone addresses the grotesque working poverty in America.

15 dollars is well below the empirical evidence that minimum wages can be set without damaging either employment or inflation goals if it is below 50% of the medium wage, which 15 dollars is way under.

US wages are way below where they were in the American golden age of a working middle class in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, they lost ground ever since, this is one step to help repair the damage that primitive and barbaric economic thinking, make workers work ever more for ever less has done not only to the American economy but to the cohesion of an ever fraying and chaotic American society.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I have answered the question about 15 dollars vice 25 twice but I cannot do anything about your reading comprehension skills, or lack thereof. (Your own logic would be why not pay one dollar per hour or even in canned food, that would create more jobs.) The premise is primitive.

See again the point about minimum wages increasing consumer demand and not being inflationary if they are below 50% of the medium wage.

As for companies moving out of America, they have been doing that even though America has some of the lowest minimum wages in the developed world.

But most of the American economy is service sector and that cannot move out, it requires the local market to serve.

Right now America is in a deflationary period, service sector wages are low. America needs demand and increasing the minimum wage increases consumer demand. Let alone addresses the grotesque working poverty in America.

15 dollars is well below the empirical evidence that minimum wages can be set without damaging either employment or inflation goals if it is below 50% of the medium wage, which 15 dollars is way under.

US wages are way below where they were in the American golden age of a working middle class in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, they lost ground ever since, this is one step to help repair the damage that primitive and barbaric economic thinking, make workers work ever more for ever less has done not only to the American economy but to the cohesion of an ever fraying and chaotic American society.

You are so wrong and obviously a younger person. I was working in the 70's living with my parents. There was no possible way to move out because I was making minimum wage. There was no possible way for me to rent an apartment, feed myself, afford a car, insurance and gasoline, and pay utilities making $2.65 an hour no matter how many hours I worked. Minimum wage was never designed to be a living wage. It's a wage for people like myself just starting out in the working world, extra money for stay at home mothers, senior citizens, and kids in high school or working during college breaks. That's it.

No you did not answer my question because you know the answer to it. If minimum wage were $30.00 an hour, the cost of living would be so high every single industry would move out of the country; domestic made goods and services would be so expensive that you would be no better off then as making the minimum wage of today. Talk about medium wage all you like, but the median hourly wage in this country is $19.00 an hour. If you are working the median hourly wage, and some clown comes along and sets the new MW to $15.00 an hour, you are not going to work for $4.35 an hour over minimum wage. You are going to demand much more. Your employer would have no choice but to pay you that wage, which he will increase the price of his products or service. Now this would happen in every business coast to coast. How do you figure that it can't create inflation and greatly increase the cost of living?

 

[Oldestyle]

I answered the question, you just do not like the answer.

I must have missed the answer and cannot find it, so if you can humor me, one more time: If $15.00 an hour minimum wage is good for the economy, then $25.00 an hour is even better, correct? And if $25.00 an hour is better, then why not make it the best at $30.00 an hour?

The Cleveland point is a good one, of course employers are going to move if they can, if they are not tied to the current market or can export their goods and services to it after moving to the lowest paid labour market they will, hell most American employers are such savages they would only pay in canned food if it were legal.

But that only highlights several issues with the American economy, how a standard national minimum wage is required and the more subtle question what are the effects on demand in those low wage paying economies?

Exactly, now you have it. Employers will react to a huge minimum wage increase. They will move out of the country because all industry would have to pay their workers more money whether they were paying them minimum wage or not.

As a landlord, I try to give my tenants reasonably priced apartments. But what do I do when my costs start increasing? My grocery bill increases greatly. My plumber charges more money for services or repair. Same for my heating guy. Gasoline for lawn and snow removal equipment. Items I need to buy from Home Depot or my local hardware store for things I repair myself. The answer is I have to increase my rental prices. I won't take the loss. That's not why I bought into this business.

Besides higher rental prices, my tenants are also faced with the same problem I have: the cost of everything they buy went up. So even if they are making more money, how are they ahead?

I have answered the question about 15 dollars vice 25 twice but I cannot do anything about your reading comprehension skills, or lack thereof. (Your own logic would be why not pay one dollar per hour or even in canned food, that would create more jobs.) The premise is primitive.

See again the point about minimum wages increasing consumer demand and not being inflationary if they are below 50% of the medium wage.

As for companies moving out of America, they have been doing that even though America has some of the lowest minimum wages in the developed world.

But most of the American economy is service sector and that cannot move out, it requires the local market to serve.

Right now America is in a deflationary period, service sector wages are low. America needs demand and increasing the minimum wage increases consumer demand. Let alone addresses the grotesque working poverty in America.

15 dollars is well below the empirical evidence that minimum wages can be set without damaging either employment or inflation goals if it is below 50% of the medium wage, which 15 dollars is way under.

US wages are way below where they were in the American golden age of a working middle class in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, they lost ground ever since, this is one step to help repair the damage that primitive and barbaric economic thinking, make workers work ever more for ever less has done not only to the American economy but to the cohesion of an ever fraying and chaotic American society.

You think a low minimum wage has caused fraying in American society? Seriously? That kind of fanciful leap of logic might have won over your college Political Science professor, Jake but it's a load of crap and I think even YOU know it! Our society is "fraying" because we've lost our work ethic...not because we work too much! It's "fraying" because our young take their cues from idiots they listen to in school and on the internet. It's "fraying" because we're obsessed with material goods that we haven't earned...can't afford...but want anyways!

 

[danielpalos]

I have answered the question about 15 dollars vice 25 twice but I cannot do anything about your reading comprehension skills, or lack thereof. (Your own logic would be why not pay one dollar per hour or even in canned food, that would create more jobs.) The premise is primitive.

See again the point about minimum wages increasing consumer demand and not being inflationary if they are below 50% of the medium wage.

As for companies moving out of America, they have been doing that even though America has some of the lowest minimum wages in the developed world.

But most of the American economy is service sector and that cannot move out, it requires the local market to serve.

Right now America is in a deflationary period, service sector wages are low. America needs demand and increasing the minimum wage increases consumer demand. Let alone addresses the grotesque working poverty in America.

15 dollars is well below the empirical evidence that minimum wages can be set without damaging either employment or inflation goals if it is below 50% of the medium wage, which 15 dollars is way under.

US wages are way below where they were in the American golden age of a working middle class in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, they lost ground ever since, this is one step to help repair the damage that primitive and barbaric economic thinking, make workers work ever more for ever less has done not only to the American economy but to the cohesion of an ever fraying and chaotic American society.

You are so wrong and obviously a younger person. I was working in the 70's living with my parents. There was no possible way to move out because I was making minimum wage. There was no possible way for me to rent an apartment, feed myself, afford a car, insurance and gasoline, and pay utilities making $2.65 an hour no matter how many hours I worked. Minimum wage was never designed to be a living wage. It's a wage for people like myself just starting out in the working world, extra money for stay at home mothers, senior citizens, and kids in high school or working during college breaks. That's it.

No you did not answer my question because you know the answer to it. If minimum wage were $30.00 an hour, the cost of living would be so high every single industry would move out of the country; domestic made goods and services would be so expensive that you would be no better off then as making the minimum wage of today. Talk about medium wage all you like, but the median hourly wage in this country is $19.00 an hour. If you are working the median hourly wage, and some clown comes along and sets the new MW to $15.00 an hour, you are not going to work for $4.35 an hour over minimum wage. You are going to demand much more. Your employer would have no choice but to pay you that wage, which he will increase the price of his products or service. Now this would happen in every business coast to coast. How do you figure that it can't create inflation and greatly increase the cost of living?

In my opinion, right wing use of the minimum wage concept would be valid in a more isolated economy. Our economy is more global and Capitalists prefer to, race to the bottom, not practice equity in our first world economy. Labor needs to be able to afford our first world economy and Firms leaving the US merely for cheap labor should be tariffed the equivalent to the highest minimum wage in the land, regardless of any race to the bottom they can arbitrage in less expensive foreign economies.

 

[danielpalos]

I answered the question, you just do not like the answer.

I must have missed the answer and cannot find it, so if you can humor me, one more time: If $15.00 an hour minimum wage is good for the economy, then $25.00 an hour is even better, correct? And if $25.00 an hour is better, then why not make it the best at $30.00 an hour?

The Cleveland point is a good one, of course employers are going to move if they can, if they are not tied to the current market or can export their goods and services to it after moving to the lowest paid labour market they will, hell most American employers are such savages they would only pay in canned food if it were legal.

But that only highlights several issues with the American economy, how a standard national minimum wage is required and the more subtle question what are the effects on demand in those low wage paying economies?

Exactly, now you have it. Employers will react to a huge minimum wage increase. They will move out of the country because all industry would have to pay their workers more money whether they were paying them minimum wage or not.

As a landlord, I try to give my tenants reasonably priced apartments. But what do I do when my costs start increasing? My grocery bill increases greatly. My plumber charges more money for services or repair. Same for my heating guy. Gasoline for lawn and snow removal equipment. Items I need to buy from Home Depot or my local hardware store for things I repair myself. The answer is I have to increase my rental prices. I won't take the loss. That's not why I bought into this business.

Besides higher rental prices, my tenants are also faced with the same problem I have: the cost of everything they buy went up. So even if they are making more money, how are they ahead?

I have answered the question about 15 dollars vice 25 twice but I cannot do anything about your reading comprehension skills, or lack thereof. (Your own logic would be why not pay one dollar per hour or even in canned food, that would create more jobs.) The premise is primitive.

See again the point about minimum wages increasing consumer demand and not being inflationary if they are below 50% of the medium wage.

As for companies moving out of America, they have been doing that even though America has some of the lowest minimum wages in the developed world.

But most of the American economy is service sector and that cannot move out, it requires the local market to serve.

Right now America is in a deflationary period, service sector wages are low. America needs demand and increasing the minimum wage increases consumer demand. Let alone addresses the grotesque working poverty in America.

15 dollars is well below the empirical evidence that minimum wages can be set without damaging either employment or inflation goals if it is below 50% of the medium wage, which 15 dollars is way under.

US wages are way below where they were in the American golden age of a working middle class in the 50s, 60s and early 70s, they lost ground ever since, this is one step to help repair the damage that primitive and barbaric economic thinking, make workers work ever more for ever less has done not only to the American economy but to the cohesion of an ever fraying and chaotic American society.

You think a low minimum wage has caused fraying in American society? Seriously? That kind of fanciful leap of logic might have won over your college Political Science professor, Jake but it's a load of crap and I think even YOU know it! Our society is "fraying" because we've lost our work ethic...not because we work too much! It's "fraying" because our young take their cues from idiots they listen to in school and on the internet. It's "fraying" because we're obsessed with material goods that we haven't earned...can't afford...but want anyways!

Nope; it is globalization and valuation for the rich but not the poor. CEOs don't get paid on how productive they are but on the valuation of the Firm.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

You think a low minimum wage has caused fraying in American society? Seriously? That kind of fanciful leap of logic might have won over your college Political Science professor, Jake but it's a load of crap and I think even YOU know it! Our society is "fraying" because we've lost our work ethic...not because we work too much! It's "fraying" because our young take their cues from idiots they listen to in school and on the internet. It's "fraying" because we're obsessed with material goods that we haven't earned...can't afford...but want anyways!

My first job out of high school was at a car wash, for yes, minimum wage. I went from there to a minimum wage job at a factory. From there, I went to another minimum wage job at a vending company, and that's where I learned how to drive a truck which eventually led me to learn how to drive a tractor-trailer, and I retired as a tractor-trailer driver after 30 years.

It was money that motivated me to try harder. If some joker came along and doubled minimum wage, I might have been working at that car wash until I was 25 or 30. I might never have discovered what I enjoyed doing.

Two problems that takes motivation from people to get ahead today: the first one is drugs. Younger people often avoid advancing in life because better paying jobs often have mandatory drug testing at their company. Two are government programs. As long as government subsidizes people who work those jobs, there is no reason for them to try harder. In fact, they make sure they stay under a certain income level to get those benefits.

At some point (I hope) younger people will say to hell with dope. I've got to learn how to do something. I have to learn a trade or get into a career and start getting ahead in life. That's not going to happen if we placate them with higher wages they don't deserve.

 

[danielpalos]

You think a low minimum wage has caused fraying in American society? Seriously? That kind of fanciful leap of logic might have won over your college Political Science professor, Jake but it's a load of crap and I think even YOU know it! Our society is "fraying" because we've lost our work ethic...not because we work too much! It's "fraying" because our young take their cues from idiots they listen to in school and on the internet. It's "fraying" because we're obsessed with material goods that we haven't earned...can't afford...but want anyways!

My first job out of high school was at a car wash, for yes, minimum wage. I went from there to a minimum wage job at a factory. From there, I went to another minimum wage job at a vending company, and that's where I learned how to drive a truck which eventually led me to learn how to drive a tractor-trailer, and I retired as a tractor-trailer driver after 30 years.

It was money that motivated me to try harder. If some joker came along and doubled minimum wage, I might have been working at that car wash until I was 25 or 30. I might never have discovered what I enjoyed doing.

Two problems that takes motivation from people to get ahead today: the first one is drugs. Younger people often avoid advancing in life because better paying jobs often have mandatory drug testing at their company. Two are government programs. As long as government subsidizes people who work those jobs, there is no reason for them to try harder. In fact, they make sure they stay under a certain income level to get those benefits.

At some point (I hope) younger people will say to hell with dope. I've got to learn how to do something. I have to learn a trade or get into a career and start getting ahead in life. That's not going to happen if we placate them with higher wages they don't deserve.

Thank goodness you never had to deal with the equivalent to black codes.