A lot of people don’t seem to understand that aspect. Minimum wage does not mean living wage. They also don’t seem to understand that raising the minimum wage is a wash, economically speaking.
I occasionally request that my wife make some veggie soup. Hers is killer. It’s honestly not even a cost or a health thing, I just like it.
It’s supposed to. That was the whole point of it.
And if a business can’t pay its employees a living wage it doesn’t deserve to be in business.
I live on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, Michigan (another college town) and my rent is still insane. Rent in downtown A2 rivals that of some apartments on the West coast. It’s actually insane.
Yes, politicians prey on the ignorant who think that the politician is doing them a favor by raising the minimum wage. Unfortunately raising the minimum wage causes prices to rise everywhere, so even though you are making more per hour, you will still be poor.
I grew up Downriver. AA ain’t nowhere close to the 3k/mo for a 1 bedroom I had to deal with in San Jose.
That’s the problem - prices already rose. They’ve been rising. Wages didn’t rise with them.
Definitely great suggestion. Those Campbell soup can menus can be little hidden treasures. I’ve made a few meals from things like that to great effect.
Yes that is called inflation. Wages historically have never risen at the rate of inflation, that is why you want to always negotiate the highest wage you can (if you have the option) when you apply for a job, because every raise after that will be a percentage applied to your base pay.
A studio alone goes for over $2k right now in some parts of Ann Arbor.
That’s not entirely true.
https://www.epi.org/nominal-wage-tracker/
Wages have increased about with inflation from 2014. There was a huge spike during CoVID, and it’s actually right now not far off from what inflation has been recently. Remember, this crazy 8% or whatever inflation has largely been a this year thing.
Yes, and that’s a problem, because a significant part of the country is now being priced out of a middle class that is quickly becoming non-existent. Not everyone is in a position to negotiate wages, and - since you raised the subject of politicians - a large number of them get their votes by convincing you that it’s the poor people at fault there for not trying hard enough instead of the CEOs and oligarchs whose pay has gone up exponentially compared to average wages.
Actually the actual inflation now is probably closer to 12%, but data is purposely manipulated to make it seem lower and seem like the govt is doing a good job.
Right. In some parts. If you want to be all hipster and live downtown, likely. But it’s not the same problem as on the West Coast. You get screwed everywhere there, you don’t have a choice. Trust me, man, nowhere in Michigan is there anything like what you see in LA/SD/Bay Area. That place is completely broken.
It a perfect world, no one would have to work and everyone would automatically have everything they needed, but that is not the world we live in. Companies need to make a profit to survive, if you force them to pay a certain amount, they have to cut benefits and raise prices and when customers stop buying their products because they are more expensive, then you get layoffs and the people who they keep have to do twice as much work for the same amount of money.
I mean, maybe. I’m just pointing out that wages for the last 10 or so years haven’t necessarily been stagnant. If you consider the last 30-40 years, especially relative to the growth of GDP, then yes, they’ve been stagnant, and people should be in uproar over it.
Those CEOs who make 900% the wage of the entry level worker can take a bit of a paycut to adjust.
And I’m not saying the CEO shouldn’t be one of the highest paid positions, it should be. But 900% is a bit excessive
I used to live in LA/SD/Bay Area. I had to because I work in tech and up until the pandemic I was in-office. It’s expensive but there are definitely places you can find that aren’t screwing you out of your paycheck entirely. It’s really not that much different from A2.
A2 is way more expensive than Downriver right now. In fact, A2 ranks among the most expensive cities in the Midwest.
While the CEO and executive levels are raking in millions and millions topped off by huge bonuses. Even when a company folds they get huge packages of cash.
If just some percentage of their massive compensation went to wages for the workers…
It does not though. Instead, if things get tough, the cuts fall on the customers and low level workers - and they will use ANY excuse to raise prices if they think the market will bear it.
I’m curious what you think people should do with minimum wages then? Die?
You can continue being curious since it has no bearing on what I wrote.