The topic of minimum wage is not as controversial
as gay rights or as dangerous as gun control but I feel it needs to be
addressed. In my opinion minimum wage has gotten out of control and seriously
needs to be discussed. I understand that we all can’t start out making millions
but I think that every one should be able to support themselves comfortably.
I have lived on my own since a young age and can
tell you all about how difficult it is to support yourself on minimum wage. I’ll
also tell you that making less than 8 dollars an hour while paying rent will
leave you very hungry. Unless of course you can find roommates or receive
government assistance but it’s pretty difficult to make it on your own with
minimum wage. It’s near impossible to get a good paying job without a degree or
some sort of learned trade. If I can barely keep from becoming homeless how am
I supposed to pay for school? Besides that what is the quality of life like for
some one who works endlessly and still can’t afford cost of living? I’ll tell
you from experience that it’s pretty disheartening. There has to be a way to
allow minimum wage to keep up with living expenses.
People expect that those who earn minimum wage
are teenagers starting out with their first job but that is not the case,
according to epi.org 88% of these workers are 20 years or older. If minimum
wage is really for those who are just starting out that statistic glaringly
states other wise. At this point when our own President states “In the richest
nation on earth, nobody who works full-time should have to live in poverty.” it
really shows how much attention this topic really needs. Obama also reminds us
that minimum wage is “20% less than when Reagan was in office” which is shocking
when you think about the inflation of living expenses since then.
Governor Chris Christie says he’s “tired” of hearing
about minimum wage, I’m sure people who work for these wages and still can’t
keep up with daily expenses are “tired” too. It absolutely sickness me to think
that there are people who believe that I don’t work hard enough to feed, house
and occasionally enjoy myself. Hopefully it can be agreed upon that some thing
needs to be done about minimum wage.
Will Raising Minimum Wage Really Help Our Society?
ReplyDeleteOn Friday, October 31, 2014 Ariel Tellez posted an article to her blog called Minimum Wage: Why can't I live comfortably too? A topic that is often put into question, she discusses it from her own point of view.
Her first argument mentioned is that everyone should be able to support themselves. Then she goes into further detail by explaining her own experience of how living off of less than eight dollars an hour will not support you while paying rent, and how extremely hard it is. Later on she presents an argument from the other point of view stating that many people think the starting minimum wage is only for high-school students who just started working and how that's not the case. She gives a statistic that 80% of these people are twenty or older. She argues that this topic is often put down, and now is the time to start discussing this problem.
I completely understand the argument that is displayed here. It is most definitely hard to live off of minimum wage... Especially when your trying to support a family or while you're in college paying tuition and rent. But the real question here is how can this be solved? I don't think raising the minimum wage will benefit the way our economy works in a positive way. I believe the outcomes could be worse than the problems we are facing now. I understand that living off of minimum wage can be extremely difficult, but I don't think raising it will help. It could help certain people individually, but if you look at the big picture, it can be frightening.
To understand this, first you must look at the solutions to solving minimum wage. There are ideas on tightening our borders and restricting immigration. This will give us the opportunity to raise minimum wage, unfortunately our country wouldn't exactly be known for being the free country where people can come in, work hard, and live freely. Instead we would be blocking people from
coming who are escaping life threatening situations, and poverty that no one here in America can truly understand. Some people believe that we should simply just raise the minimum wage and that it will have a positive outcome. According to an article by Andrew F. Puzder, that is not the case. Puzder explains that by raising the minimum wage, significantly, millions of Americans will experience the loss of job opportunities. By raising minimum wage large business corporations may have to start laying off more people.
Later on she mentions, "It's near impossible to get a good paying job without a degree or some sort of earned trade." According to George Leef the benefits of going to college is not as Valuable in today's time. I do believe that everyone should try and get get a degree, it would be false to say that there aren't any benefits of going to college. In another mindset, there are people who become extremely successful who don't obtain a degree. In fact when you go back to what Puzder was saying, most people who have a degree, still get paid the minimum wage. I believe there are so many problems with this issue.
Unfortunately, I don't see how this problem can be fixed in a way that will truly be beneficial. By the facts I've gathered, I'm going to have to be against the idea of raising the minimum wage. In my opinion, it could cause more harm than good. Despite my opinions I am very interested in new solutions to solving this issue, but I have not come across one that will benefit our economy that does not degrade it.
Reading through the editorial piece, I can only feel for what the speaker is talking about. The speaker is so angry at the current state of the economy despite the fact that everybody, including the President and governors, postulating the negative effects of the matter to citizens. There is basically some truth about what the speaker posits in regards to who the minimum wage greatly affects. In fact, it is posited that the citizens, have for a longer period of time, failed to comprehend that minimum wages affects the older people as opposed to teenage workers.
ReplyDeleteAnother important argument that the speaker puts across relates to the manner for which the level of minimum wage has continued to remain at a low despite a relative increase in the level of living expenses. Firsthand life experience of the speaker ascertains the fact that the current American economy cannot allow one to live alone and afford to a comfortable lifestyle. This is because they are forced to seek the comfort of life by living with roommates as a way of sharing costs attributed to leading a relative comfortable life.
In my opinion, it is ironical that the country’s political figures are leading a fore-front public campaign aimed at sensitizing people about the need for raising the current minimum wage of $8 an hour instead of concentrating on the formulation of policies that can help improve the condition. The reality of the matter is that the affluent population seems to be leading a comfortable lifestyle at the expense of the struggling economy. It is also ironical that a person would need a degree or a learned trade in order to secure a fair-paying job despite the fact that school seems to have shifted to a luxurious service category in the United States of America. Thus, I think that the speaker is very certain on his arguments in regards to the way the economy is operating to oppress the struggling class of the society.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHI Ariel. I agree with your post. Here is my comment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with our classmate Ariel. In her article, she talked about its hard to live with a minimum wage. I think she is right, she points out that in our life, its hard to live by our self unless we can find roommate or receive government assistance, and she thinks that everyone should be about to support themselves comfortably. I think we can all agree that if we only earn eight dollars an hour and we have to spend on rent and other living expenses, how could our lives become comfortable? Here is an example from my friend: He is a worker in a Chinese restaurant; he earns only $7.25 an hour without tips. But he has to pay for tuition for $5500, rent and bills around $800 each month. Right now he has to spend less than $60 a week. We can image his life isn’t comfortable at all.
I totally agree that Minimum wages is needs to be addressed now, and we should earn better wage so we can afford our rent or lives expenses and have a comfortable life.
Last, I like an example Ariel provided of what Obama said, he said, " In the richest nation on earth, nobody who works full-times should have to live in poverty." I agree with his point and I can feel how much attention this topic really need. Many people work in a full-times job can't afford rent and the expensive tuition. I think this should stop happening in America and it must be change to allow minimum wage keep up with our living expenses