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| Oh look he's pointing at something! |
So okay, here is the FB post that kind of started this whole train of thought. It is a quote by the famous/infamous Paul Krugman about business/labor practices. Now normally, I don't particularly like this man or his reasonings, but when taken in a general sense this quote is fairly accurate. Of course, like most general ideas the actual truth is far more complicated, but I liked the general notion so I reposted it on FB.
Now my brother Benjamin Baker saw my post and wrote a most excellent counter point blog that very effectively dealt with some of the deeper questions behind this issue. (If you aren't following his blogs yet, you are missing out on some amazing Shift) His musings got me thinking yet again and I took finger to keyboard before my headparts exploded from the confuzzlement.
Who or what determines what it means to pay a "fair wage?" Who says, "Okay, you are doing X job for Y hours so it is fair of me to pay you Z wages? The person who is paying the wages will feel that it is his right to pay the lowest salary possible to better improve his profits. The worker will always feel that it is his right to earn as much money as he can for the labor he produces. Never will you find the two ideas comfortably meeting. Employer will always want to pay less and the employee will always want to make more.
The US Government as well as many other countries has an established Minimum Wage that is paid (At least in theory) to every person working in the country. People with skills and training (Experience) can make significantly more than that in their chosen fields. The disconnect, at least to me, is when people who haven't taken the time, effort and money needed to gain said skills and training expect to be paid as much. I have read many "opinion pieces" that state the minimum wage should be $15.00-$20.00 so that people can earn a "decent living."
Does anyone else grasp the absolute ludicrousness of that idea? The idea that Joe with a high school diploma flipping burgers at Jolly Burgers should earn as much as Sally at ACME Mechanical Sharks Ink who went to school and got a degree in Mechanical Sharks? Sally spent four years of her life and thousands of dollars to get her training. Joe walked in to Jolly Burger and said, "Hey kin I flip burgers?"
Fair pay does not mean that every single person makes similar wages. It means that people with the same skills/training/education or any combination of those makes similar wages no matter their race, creed, religion or planet of origin. Companies aren't required by either law or morality to pay a worker "enough money to live off of." They should only be required to pay the worker a salary appropriate to their skill level. If your skill level is Minimum Wage level, then that is what you should be paid. If that amount isn't enough for you to live comfortably off of then get another job. Heck get two they might be small.
People get annoyed when I bring up my father and how he worked 10-12 hours a day his entire life with the County Road Crew AND cut dozens of yards a week to earn enough money to feed his family and keep a roof over our heads. They scream that times are different now and that people shouldn't have to do that. Well, I scream back that times are no different now than they were 20 years ago. We the people do not owe anyone else a living. We aren't responsible for you earning a better wage.
If the job you hold doesn't pay your bills, get a better one. If you can't get a better one because you lack skills/education, get the skills you need. If you can't do that, get two jobs. We as a Nation aren't required to make sure you have everything you need. That responsibility is completely on your shoulders.
End of Rant
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