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Maybe its just me, but why is minimum wage acceptable yet a maximum wage isn’t? Come on folks, corporate greed is a very real thing. When was the last time a CEO limited their pay to better their company? —Minimum wage equals poverty..
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2015.
35 Comments
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Yep, it is just you. The minimum wage is set by the provincial government and the maximum wage is set by the shareholders/board of directors of the company/organization. Simple.
Isn’t that what that useless occupy movement was all about?
“How much is enough?” says someone with dreadlocks, a Che T-shirt from G@p and who shits in a bucket.
THE CONCEPT OF THE MAXIMUM WAGE
“Maybe its (sic) just me, but why is (sic) minimum wage acceptable yet a minimum wage isn’t.” Minimum wage equals poverty
The function of the minimum wage is to provide a basic economic foundation for those, clearly people like yourself judging by your writing skills, who are without either the intelligence or the ability to command a higher wage. However inadequate as you claim, no doubt from first-hand knowledge, the minimum wage is nevertheless a rudimentary social survival net.
On the other hand, there is no equivalent in the form of a “maximum wage”. What would such a maximum wage look like? Indeed, the concept of any such maximum wage in a capitalist market society – I use the phrase in its purely economic sense – is incoherent. As a start, those who earn a “maximum wage” do not receive a “wage” at all. They are not employees but entrepreneurs, investors and employers. In other words, they are those who employ people like you at a minimum wage. Now shut up and go away.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
And who said Marx was dead.
God said it. “God is dead.” (Marx) “Marx is dead.” (God
Groucho Lives
It was Nietzsche who said God was dead. Marx thought he was in a coma.
I hear there are openings for sidewalk Nazis.
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Babyshambles (11:10AM)
Yes, indeed it was Nietzsche who said “God is dead” but, given Dim Bro Tim’s previous assertion to which my comment was a response, it would not have sounded nearly as good as Marx.
But I was wondering. When you keyed in “Nietzsche” did you preen? Did you detect the stirrings of an incipient erection? Write back soon.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
RSVP
Babyshambles (11:30AM)
It appears that my original reply to you was deleted which, I suppose, is all for the best. It included the word “erection” as does this comment as well which, as a consequence, might also be deleted.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
I guess it wasn’t deleted after all. Write back soon.
Nay, Mr. Montrealman, not even a stir.
In the 1990s, I was in possession of two black t-shirts, one with the ‘God is Dead…’ etc. and ‘Nietzsche’s Peachy’, thanks to my older brother. He was the philosophy major, not I.
The other words I learned from my beloved frere: ‘Bertrand Russell’ but no t-shirt was offered.
OK, just a question to the OB: If indeed YOU are the one earning minimum wage, WHY are you in that situation??
Minimum wage is for the most inexperienced level of workers, such as teenagers working at a first job.
Adults are supposed to move up the scale with increased knowledge and experience.
OB, if you are past the age of 18 and are still earning minimum wage, the problem may not be with the minumum wage. The problem might be with your own lack of ability to get OUT of the jobs that pay only the minimum wage.
If you want the “maximum wage” (or even a decent wage) you have to do be willing to a job that pays that. Are you?
If you want to move even higher than the “wage” scale itself, you have to stop being an employee altogether and take the risk of being an independent contractor or an actual business owner.
What’s truly sad is that if you make minimum wage, your employer likely gripes and complains about having to pay you that much. Some even tried to exploit lax temporary foreign worker legislation so they COULD pay SOMEONE less. Shameless minimum wage paying, no benefits having, cheap-ass fucks!!!
Everyone who works deserves better than the bare minimum, no matter what you do.
Minimum wage really should be around $15 a hour, They say if it kept pace with the cost of living it would be $21, I remember growing up and many minimum wage people or maybe a bit higher and they had cars and apartments of their own, Also some commenters say minimum wage is for teenagers, I work with teachers and people with science degrees who can’t find work here, Nova Scotia has a mostly service economy now, I agree people should try for better work and careers but for the time being the job they have working full time should put a beater in the parking lot and pay the simple bills rent, groceries power and phone, I manage but I have a roommate and know a lot about vehicles and fixing stuff in general but for my peers it much harder.
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Babyshambles (01/20, 4:31PM)
I’m glad to hear that your comment did not cause an erection. They can be quite inconvenient, particularly when sufficiently tumescent to obstruct one’s vision of the computer keyboard to say nothing, of course, of eventually causing water damage to the screen.
Did you accompany your older brother, the philosophy major, to fascist rallies in your black shirts? Is he a Nietzschean? In what sense was Bertrand Russell your “beloved frere?” Could you provide a citation for your claim that Russell maintained that “Marx thought he was in a coma?” It sounds very un-Russellian. Write back soon.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
Mr. Montrealman: my dear frere, now in his twilight years, only has one firm philosophy. Hedonism. The other ‘schools of thought’ were tossed aside like peanut shells as he grew older and more jaded.
As I told you before, dear sir, I am no philosopher, only a humble minstrel, strumming my way along life’s uncertain path.
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Babyshambles (12:22PM)
Of course one does wonder whether Hedonism might be properly considered a “firm philosophy” at all. Where philosophy is ordinarily understood as a coherent intellectual system grounded on rationally defensible principles, just how would your dear frere articulate that system? What would Hedonism mean to him?
Your reference to his being “jaded” suggests a degree of moral disapproval. Does this disapproval itself spring from a coherent intellectual system or, rather, is it an eclectic collection of peanut shells which you happened to retrieve after your dear frere tossed them aside?
Finally, your reference to your being only a “humble minstrel” strumming your way along life’s uncertain path does suggest strong existential components. Would you like to elaborate on them for us?
Write back soon.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
Loulou – What are your thoughts on the Barber paradox?
http://sci-ence.org/comics/2011-04-27-Barber-paradox.jpg
OK, so if the minimum wage went up to $15.00 an hour or $25.00 an hour . . . or even $100.00 an hour, how long do you think it would be until everyone all the way up the scale started wanting their wages to be hiked up even more? No matter what the dollar amount is, the minimum wage will always be the lowest wage in comparison to everyone else.
People say, “Oh, they pay $18.00 an hour at Tim Horton’s in Fort Mac.” Which sounds great, until you realize that a 35-year-old townhouse still costs over $500,000, and any kind of nicer home is well into the millions. A very small single room is over $800.00 per month. I know that is an artificial and temporary situation but it just shows that it is the position on the scale that determines whether a wage is high or low, not just the number itself.
Should the minimum wage be a decent wage, in keeping with the cost of living? Absolutely YES. But because it is by definition the very lowest amount it is possible to earn, it will never be possible to become “rich” if one is only earning the minimum wage.
Lolz
http://sci-ence.org/comics/2011-04-27-Barb…
Ms. Paingirl: great minds think alike?
your link didn’t come through, so i fixed it for you. i’m the cleanup batter^^
Thanx, Ms. Paingirl!
my pleasure http://www.troll.me/images/classy/it-was-m…
What paradox?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/origi…
Lolz
It does not matter how much money one makes, but rather how costly things are.
There would be no need to raise minimum wage if the cost of living dropped.
WAGES & LIVING COSTS
But wages and living costs are inter-related. How costly things are is a function of how much money one makes and, conversely, how much money one makes is a function of how costly things are. Wages and costs are in economic tandem with each other and so to speak of dropping the cost of one without reference to dropping the cost of the other is incoherent.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!
They are interrelated, although not fairly established. It is not, however, a function of what ‘one’ earns, rather what ‘everyone’ earns (for the purpose of this conversation, ‘everyone’ = a specific city or region). My cost of living is not based on my own personal income, rather the average GDP of Halifax, and therefore NS.
My cost of living does not increase (excluding taxes) in tandem with my wages. Minimum wage earners (minimum wage being a relatively ubiquitous rate) may not be fairly compensated if they are living in a neighbourhood where the cost of living is disproportionately high (IG: a min. wage earner living in a high rent neighborhood – their wages may not be able to provide a basic standard of living, whereas outside that neighbourhood min. wage may be able to provide them with all their basic needs).
The Captain has a good point. If you want to live in the south end of Halifax, minimum wage might be insufficient but if you live in industrial Cape Breton where there are many decent houses for under $100k and a decent 1 bedroom apartment rents for $500 or so then the minimum wage doesn’t look so bad (assuming you can actually find a job.)
RSVPS
Captain (11:00AM)
“They are interrelated but not fairly established. It is not, however, a function of what ‘one’ earns, rather what ‘everyone’ earns.”
No kidding. Passing by your vacuous point that the interrelationship of wages and income is not fairly established, whatever that might mean, your cost of living is not based on your personal individual income but rather the average GDP of Halifax and therefore NS. And therefore of Canada as well. But I can see that you are making progress. Keep thinking.
Mr. R.S.D. Tector (11:17AM)
No, he doesn’t have a good point. The interrelationship of wages and cost of living is averaged. Read that word again. The relationship is averaged overall and not related to any specific individual or community. But I can see you are making progress as well. Keep thinking but do not write back.
A pleasure as always,
Cheerio!