The Economic Downturn..

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

I wonder if employers are purposely low balling pay because so many people are out of work..
I guess so long as it's minimum wage or above, they can get away with offering insulting wages

What? Why that would be selfish and deceitful. And as Republicans keeps asssuring us, businesses* always have everyone's best interest at heart. (head explodes from too much sarcasm)

*Well, large corporations anyway. Small businesses can go fuck themselves apparently.

Lack of unions (especially in the Entertainment field) will do that, too.

[Doctor Who?]

I really wish the government would get rid of the minium wage.  Making something is better then making nothing and there is no way anyone is ever going to hire again as long as the government makes them pays us what the government says they have to.  The minium wage law are not helping anyone who doesn't have a job already.

[Thrifty]

Something is NOT better than nothing.  There's no point in working if you STILL can't make ends meet.  It's basically a lateral move from unemployment to employment.

[Darth Geek]

Something is NOT better than nothing.  There's no point in working if you STILL can't make ends meet.  It's basically a lateral move from unemployment to employment.

RIght. And the point of minimum wage is that it forces employers to not just pay their hard working employees peanuts.

[Doctor Who?]

Something is NOT better than nothing.  There's no point in working if you STILL can't make ends meet.  It's basically a lateral move from unemployment to employment.

If you have some money you can find a way to make ends meet if you have no money you will end up on the street at some point.  If my parrents were not letting me live at home free I would be out on the street.  If you have people backing you with money you can afford to hold out for a certain wage but if you can't why shouldn't you be allowed to work for less to get your foot in the door?

[RVR II]

Something is NOT better than nothing.  There's no point in working if you STILL can't make ends meet.  It's basically a lateral move from unemployment to employment.

If you have some money you can find a way to make ends meet if you have no money you will end up on the street at some point.  If my parrents were not letting me live at home free I would be out on the street.  If you have people backing you with money you can afford to hold out for a certain wage but if you can't why shouldn't you be allowed to work for less to get your foot in the door?

Because it would be taken advantage of by employers.

This is already happening in Mexico where the average daily pay is the equivalent of $6 US Dollars a day because of no Gov't oversight....

[Doctor Who?]

SO if i am willing to work for the ammount of money they offer and i can find a way to pay my bills with it what right does the government have to tell me I can't?  In this country I am free to go out and buy sigs,booze,or guns after I turn 21,why can't I decide what I am willing to wrok for in a competive job market?

[RVR II]

SO if i am willing to work for the ammount of money they offer and i can find a way to pay my bills with it what right does the government have to tell me I can't?  In this country I am free to go out and buy sigs,booze,or guns after I turn 21,why can't I decide what I am willing to wrok for in a competive job market?

Because Employers make pay scale decisions based on their type of work they do and the pay is based on the government's set standards which is based on Equality for all employees..

You can go work for what ever pay you want to if someone is willing to pay you that but then the Labor Board would sue that person/employer for violation of the set Labor standards..

[Thrifty]

SO if i am willing to work for the ammount of money they offer and i can find a way to pay my bills with it what right does the government have to tell me I can't?  In this country I am free to go out and buy sigs,booze,or guns after I turn 21,why can't I decide what I am willing to wrok for in a competive job market?

Because you WOULDN'T be able to pay your bills on some paltry sum like $10 a day ($1.25 per hour assuming 8 hours a day) or $15 or $20 (same wage, more hours).  Write me a budget that gets you food, clothes, transportation, and shelter on 10-20 bucks a day and you'll have some credibility. 

And when you're speaking of "my right to work for under minimum wage", you're really talking about "an employer's right to pay less than minimum wage", and by trying to claim this right for yourself, you're inflicting it as a punishment on everyone else.  Why hire Steve at $7.25 an hour (the current minimum wage) or even keep Steve on the payroll, when Matt will do it for $1.25?  Employers of unskilled labor fill up with throngs of the cheapest labor possible.  Maybe with lower labor costs they can hire more people, but you've also made that work little more than an unpleasant hobby.  In short, you've made your life and the life of others worse.

[Doctor Who?]

SO if i am willing to work for the ammount of money they offer and i can find a way to pay my bills with it what right does the government have to tell me I can't?  In this country I am free to go out and buy sigs,booze,or guns after I turn 21,why can't I decide what I am willing to wrok for in a competive job market?

Because you WOULDN'T be able to pay your bills on some paltry sum like $10 a day ($1.25 per hour assuming 8 hours a day) or $15 or $20 (same wage, more hours).  Write me a budget that gets you food, clothes, transportation, and shelter on 10-20 bucks a day and you'll have some credibility. 

And when you're speaking of "my right to work for under minimum wage", you're really talking about "an employer's right to pay less than minimum wage", and by trying to claim this right for yourself, you're inflicting it as a punishment on everyone else.  Why hire Steve at $7.25 an hour (the current minimum wage) or even keep Steve on the payroll, when Matt will do it for $1.25?  Employers of unskilled labor fill up with throngs of the cheapest labor possible.  Maybe with lower labor costs they can hire more people, but you've also made that work little more than an unpleasant hobby.  In short, you've made your life and the life of others worse.

So if my dad gets sick of me and kicks me out on to the street with out food or water I should starve to death in the gutter with a smile on my face because someone else life is better?  Also if there is less money around prices go down.  Look at this country in the past,gas didn't always cost $3.00 a gallon.   Back when people made $20 a day this cost less.  Everyone has a right to survive.  The government doesn't help everyone who doesn't have a job.  If $10 keeps me from starving I will take it over nothing.  I see plenty of people begging for change on the side of the road who I am sure would take the same deal.

[Tripe]

Also if there is less money around prices go down.

They don't, at least not on general principal and without massive government intervention.

Look at this country in the past,gas didn't always cost $3.00 a gallon.   Back when people made $20 a day this cost less.

Both are connected to inflation, however the latter did not directly cause the former.

If $10 keeps me from starving I will take it over nothing.  I see plenty of people begging for change on the side of the road who I am sure would take the same deal.

$10 will not  keep you from starving in the long run, or indeed dying from other causes associated with extreme poverty, those people begging for change have a much much lower life expectancy that those who are not homeless.

[Doctor Who?]

My point is it's all about buying time.  How long can a person live eating nothing and living on the streets?  I will bet you anything it's not as long as someone who gets one or two meals a day now matter how cheap they are. 

Here is the thing there are people who will not make to end of this thing with out some way to bring in money of some kind.  The government cuts off their help to the people they do help at some point.  Also things are not budging one inch.  Can you tell me when this downturn will end?  Two year? Five years? Ten Years? No one knows.

You are asking people to risk dieing so other people can make more money.  Now if you want to pass a law that requires a company to hire anyone who asks for a job or a law where the government gives $5,000 a year to anyone who doesn't have a job then I will agree that the minium wage is a good idea.  But until something is done for the people who are being fired and not hired because of it it is only hurt the poor so the rich can get richer.  Don't mean to be rude that is just how I see it from where I am.

[UncleDes]

Worrying news that police departments are cutting staff and asking victims of non-violent crime to fill out police reports. So: if you are burgled, you have to do the paperwork, too? Naaa - don't think so.

So you reduce police: the number of reported crimes goes down: so anyone looking at this says "That's OK: we can reduce the police even more and reduce the reported crime figures....:" see where this is going?

The rich will live in exclusive high-security estates: the middle class will disappear and Goodbye USA and hello Mexico!!!

Des

[k1]

I can tell you that if my wife & I were both making minimum wage there's no possible way that we could afford to pay rent anywhere in the Boston area, let alone feed ourselves & our 2 kids.  (We're struggling to pay our mortgage & bills as it is.  And we're screwed if I don't get another extension on my benefits.)  It's 'spensive around here and I haven't even been getting phone calls back from any of the places that I've been applying to.

My problem seems to be that the only jobs that are actually hiring people are ones that I'm overqualified for.  I've been told that's the reason they passed on me on a few places I applied.  But even if they overlooked that fact, I'd still be taking a significant "pay cut" from what I'm making on unemployment and it would make paying bills a little tricky.  (Although I wouldn't have the stress of the whole extension mess which would be a nice thing.)   

*I had a huge rant about how much this sucks for everyone (people who lost jobs, people who DIDN'T lose their jobs, spouses & kids of both those categories due to stress/depression/etc of aforementioned people) but after it got a little long winded I decided to cut it.*  In it's place I am going to drink a beer.

[Tripe]

My problem seems to be that the only jobs that are actually hiring people are ones that I'm overqualified for.  I've been told that's the reason they passed on me on a few places I applied.  But even if they overlooked that fact, I'd still be taking a significant "pay cut" from what I'm making on unemployment and it would make paying bills a little tricky.  (Although I wouldn't have the stress of the whole extension mess which would be a nice thing.)   

Same here \

Though the VO work might be picking up so that's something.