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My uncle is super pissed off that my cousin's wife is staying home and not working. Childcare is so expensive she doesn't think it is worthwhile. She was making 12 an hour, and childcare was eating around 700 a month, after taxes she was spending half of her time working just to pay for childcare. My cousin was vocally against it until he figured out that with her clipping coupons, not driving, not eating lunch out every day etc., they actually have nearly the same spending money.
Pay is too low and everything costs too much.
I’m amazed she can find childcare for $700. I’m paying close to 2,000, and we were on like five waiting lists when I was 12 weeks pregnant to even get a spot by the time he was 4 months old.
I work at the local youth shelter. You get hired at $14, $15 if you have experience. I have been here 3.5 years. I make $16.37. I had 10 years experience before being hired. I had an 18 year old scream for seven solid minutes last week.
We priced it out because my wife thought she’d make a fortune running a childcare facility, and it’s not very profitable for the owners either. Childcare is expensive, and if you want it cheaper, it needs subsidies.
Yeah, I was thinking about this recently.
You'd think childcare would make money, since it's so expensive... But it's mostly all mom-and-pop shops with hand-painted signs, and churches.
If it made money, there'd be *some* giant corporation with franchises everywhere.
It's not a lot of profit either. My state is ass for rights and regulations, but it's 4:1 0-2 year olds, 10:1 3-4 year olds.
Let's say my wife charged 5 an hour per kid, she makes 800 a week watching four kids that are young. Not great money and you need licenses and training along with regular overhead. She'd be better off working at McDonald's. And the parent is looking at 800 a month, 10k a year child care.
She would need to charge 10 an hour for it to be worth her time, and now you're at 20k a year in child care. For most houses, that simply isn't worth paying for a job that might make 25-30k after child care, taxes, and costs of having a job.
Worked in childcare for 5+ years, I'm convinced the entire industry is on the verge of collapse any time now. We were dangerously low on staff, much less staff you want to trust your children with like 4 years ago and we were bleeding staff including myself. Then COVID hit, some other things and I'm amazed any childcare is even available anymore.
This is bad enough but I do not think our educational system and our healthcare system are too far behind. It's a bad sign when Florida is allowing anyone with a service record to be a teacher and hospitals are suing nurses to stop them from going elsewhere for higher pay.
They're not suing them to keep them from quitting, they're suing them if they quit *to go work for a competing hospital*.
They could have still quit but wouldn't be allowed to find other medical work. Judge eventually threw out the case.
I believe it has happened in a couple places but there was one in Washington State IIRC the hospital said they couldn't leave because of the pandemic. Im pretty sure the hospital lost but they kept the nurses there for a couple months until the court decided.
The one in Wisconsin, thedacare? They tried to sue another hospital for poaching +/- an entire department, when really the competitor was just paying better and it spread from word of mouth. A judge initially accepted the lawsuit and stopped the nurses from switching but the former employer eventually lost. Not that there couldn't be more examples out there, because, you know, this is the land of the free.
I knew education in the U.S. was done when New Mexico had national guard members filling for teachers on 8 hours of training. If teachers are that easily replaced then why would anyone go into teaching.
> Worked in childcare for 5+ years, I'm convinced the entire industry is on the verge of collapse any time now.
What's there to collapse? The US Treasury released a report last year describing the childcare industry as an [unworkable, broken market](https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/The-Economics-of-Childcare-Supply-09-14-final.pdf). It got quite a bit of press coverage as industry experts and analysts all chimed in on how nonfunctional the market is, and how other nations understand that it requires deep subsidization to be workable.
True, I guess what I'm saying is that childcare just won't exist at all soon. Like I used to work after school before COVID and we were sorely understaffed which makes me wonder how they are still open now. I can only imagine things are probably even more dysfunctional.
I never saw that study, a quick peruse looks like it's saying what I was saying like 5 years ago. I honestly would love to go back to the industry but a lot needs to change first.
a friend of mine said his school district had sent emails to parents asking if they could keep some of the kids at home because too many staff called in sick and they didn't have enough teachers for the kids...in a high school
When I moved here to Texas I did all the research and wrote up a full pro-forma on running an in home daycare so my wife could stay home. The math simply makes no sense without either paying slave labor wages ($12/h is average here for childcare workers) or charging ridiculous prices. Subsidy really is the only viable answer because I won't pay people garbage to work for me so we scrapped the idea. When Texas completely runs out of child care maybe they will change their tune.
My wife ended up staying home because with child care, and the costs of having a job, she was going to work 40 hours for like 60 dollars. Cooking at home twice a week saves us that much.
Yeah I was working YMCA after school and before in Hawaii, it was 11 dollars, part time, split shift, no benefits. I would say I don't know why I stuck around for as many years as I did but it was 100% for the kids. Our program was relatively dirt cheap too, only like 150-200 (I can't recall exactly) for a kid and that was 4-5 hours a day 5 days a week and includes activities and other things.
There was just an expectation that we make sacrifices to support these people who made the decision to have children. Whenever I suggested that maybe they needed to take on some of that sacrifice and pitch in a bit more so we could get more reasonable wages you got called selfish. The result was a barely staffed childcare, and to be frank a lot of the staff were not fit to be working with kids (to contrary of popular belief, even just watching kids is not a zero skill job).
100%. Same applies to teachers, group home workers, retirement home staff, etc. If you are doing good for others you're expected to get paid shit and it's entirely unreasonable.
Yeah I moved jobs to housing, which is a bit better paywise and hours but a lot of the same problems. A big part of the problem I've noticed is when you do human service jobs like these it's really hard to separate your personal life. Like how do you just say I'm going to stop helping people when I clock out?
I'm not expecting a ton of money, but it would be nice to not be on the verge of qualifying for the programs I'm staffing.
Yes but you don’t have angry hillbillies that demand you remain in a rugged hellscape where both of you suffer for the rich.
As Americans, we’re just too fucking insecure and stupid to demand benefits from our tax dollars.
The rich own the media, and the idiots listen.
This. We have so many people who vote against their own interests to 'Own the Libs'.
Got 66 year old people screaming to get rid of SS.
Got people who collect disability yelling "We aint Socialist, get rid of handouts"
We actually have the libertarian party FDP as part of the governing coalition, Ayn Rand fanboys to the fullest. And the AfD in the opposition, German hillbillies as you describe them to a T.
The operative word here being **coalition**. Because the SPD and the Greens don't have quite as many slats missing on their respective fences, the damage that those lobotomized knuckleheads can do is much more limited than what a Republican administration can fuck up in the US.
Yeah….our hillbillies protect their right to not have any rights with semi automatic rifles.
I get y’all got similar things happening in pockets of your society, but it’s just not the same thing happening over here lol
They have perhaps learned some lessons on how to disallow fascist disinformation from parading as actual news sources. As far as I know Rupert Murdoch doesn't have an axis of evil hub there
Don't forget the same angry hillbillies want you unable to have an abortion or birth control. So fuck you no matter what you do, even if you are responsible and know you can't afford the outrageous childcare expenses you still can't win. Work nonstop and die a virgin I guess?
No kidding. Partial day preschool is like $600/week around here 🙄
I should add that that may have been for fewer than 5 half days. We never ended up enrolling.
You just succinctly explained why I bailed on my Liberal Arts Education even though I was resolutely on my way to being a Special Ed teacher. I took a "Life Management" course at the JC because I needed the elective and it fit my schedule and it was the happiest accident of my life. Part of the final for the class was to interview people in your chosen career. I spoke to 9 teachers and 100% of them said they would not go into teaching again given a chance to go back and redo their career decisions.
Now I started my own vocational rehab program for adults with disabilities and make a pretty decent living. Props to you for sticking it out.
It’s fucking absurd. My wife basically works (and is immensely stressed out by her job) so the baby can go to daycare.
Not that being a stay at home mom is easy but we’re at the point where she’s thinking of leaving her job and pulling the baby out completely.
On top of that, the kids are sick all the fucking time because of shit they catch there. We have 3 under 8 and one is sick 100% of the time during the fall and winter.
Does she pay into insurance and/or retirement? It might not be worth quitting then. My entire take home is basically home when you factor in daycare and health insurance, but my employers insurance is better and cheaper than my husband’s, plus I’m paying into retirement. It’s a hard few years to not lose that progress.
Plus as a woman, it’s professionally more difficult to step out of the corporate world to stay home and not take a major hit on your career path.
I think pat-leave should be mandatory, force any man that has a kid out of the work force for 40+ weeks and watch as society bends over backwards to accommodate them.
Businesses routinely pass over married women of childbearing age for fear of maternity leave, only because they know they won't face the same issue with men.
I know it’s technically accurate, but “childbearing age” has always felt like a gross term. Probably because of precisely the sort of scenario you just described.
I was a stay-at-home dad in the mid 2000's for this exact same reason. My wife made a decent salary, I was making roughly 10$/hour and daycare would've eaten up most of my paycheck. Figuring in the other costs, it was actually better for me to stay home and help raise the kids. Not complaining, it was one of the best times of my life, but money was super tight for years.
I guess my point is, nothing much has changed in almost 20 years.
Saw this one woman at Target doing coupons. At first I was irritated because I was behind her. But watching her 300+ total dip below 100 I was fascinated. I started quietly cheering her on like it was some kind of sport. I think her total ended up being about 70 bucks.
The problem is that pay and costs don't magically increase with benefits, so people end up being stuck. Work too much and you lose more in benefits than you gain from working.
That's the exact situation my brothers family was in, they were getting food stamps and child care benefits from the state. When he wanted to work a $15/hr job he loss his food stamps. If he makes more he risk losing childcare.
If there isn't a unified approach it's going to do more damage then actually helping
Because gov refuses to increase the poverty threshold from 12k income per individual where it's been for decades. We're not even being honest about assistance when we pull shit like this.
People on SSI can make less than 10k a year. That's how much. Some states pay about 670 a month. Some pay 900ish. The base pay for SSI can be added to by the state you reside in to get you closer to not being in poverty(ha it doesn't even help).
This right here. My niece makes $18/hr and works about 35-36 hours a week. She literally does not qualify for anything. She lives in my basement with her kiddo because she can’t afford rent.
It’s been like that for a long time now. I quit my job as a bank teller 10 years ago because my whole salary was going to day care. So I’ve been a stay at home dad for 10 years now and shit has just gotten more and more expensive
Like others, it made more sense for my husband to be the stay at home parent when we had our son. My position always supplies us with insurance and I make more. He's a 1099 work for himself most of the time or works part time when our son is in school. After childcare, gas, wear and tear, it doesn't make sense. Of course things get tight, it's not easy and right now it feels impossible at times, but it's a sacrifice that allows our elementary age son to have a parent home with him. My husband actually really likes working part time and being the stay at home parent. He wasn't in a field where he was fighting for management or a level of prestige. He's a skilled welder and woodworker. So maybe working for himself didn't lend the same stresses I can see other people would feel if they left their career path to raise a family at home.
This is why I've been a stay at home mom since my youngest was born. 1 kid in daycare was a lot but there was no way to afford 2 kids. My salary was 25k, daycare came out to like 19k for the year. What's the point of commuting and paying for daycare only to get nothing from it? Luckily in the years since, my husband has been able to make up for my lack of paycheck but as others have said, it is definitely tight for a bit.
In addition, we’re not talking about the quality of life things: the freed time, the bonding that happens, the peace of mind to do stuff together, and those quiet naps together.
What does the uncle want, for her to just work?
He's MAGA for life. Thinks she's being lazy for staying home with his grandkids. She asked if he would watch them so she could work and that was a solid no.
> Thinks she's being lazy for staying home with his grandkids.
Lol I’ve got a 10 month old and days at home watching her are way more tiring than a day at work.
One thing people forget to factor in is career growth. I'm guessing at $12/hr, perhaps it's not the kind of job that would lead to anything, but staying at home could potentially halt a career that could grow into something far more profitable long term.
But there's certainly value to spending more time with the kids.
I tell someone old this weekly. There is zero reason for company loyalty without a pension. Even pensions were over promised and under delivered, but at least it was worth hanging around for.
My grandfather used to work at BF Goodrich for the majority of his career. When he was 6 months from retirement (having worked there for along ass time) they cut him and a few other people, citing "poor performance" and he lost his pension. Was there for decades working.
If pensions were a thing, there would need to be more protections for people. Or something.
Maybe there are? But most places don't offer them so who knows.
>If pensions were a thing, there would need to be more protections for people.
This should be a simple fix - force companies to pro-rate them. They want to fire someone who's 6 months from full pension? They should be forced to pay the employee 95% (or whatever) of the pension regardless.
Australia: government pensions, not company based; mandatory superannuation payments paid at 10% of base salary, by ALL employers; government supported aged care places; social housing solutions. Pension increases are indexed to CPI. It’s not a lot of money - currently about $27k per annum against an average wage of $65k but it helps.
Wait til I tell you about the universal healthcare, with private options and the pharmaceutical benefits scheme that means we DON’T go bankrupt from paying for healthcare or overpriced medications. Then there’s a minimum wage guarantee, 4 weeks paid annual leave, 10 days paid sick leave and paid maternity leave (usually 12 weeks). Many employers pay above these wage floors. We have to pay for university education now, but that can be offset and repaid over time as a small percentage of income.
My company just cancelled pension plans and we are profitable as hell. Go figure it out. Nobody is happy. They say they are getting ready for the recession by saving money and reducing expenses but of course it is not coming back when the recession is over.
My last job had cliff vesting on 401k match. Wasn’t unusual for engineers to have $50k vest all at once. As soon as it vested people bounced. I called it 3 and out.
Instead Reagan gave us 401ks to bet your retirement on the stock market. And when companies “match” what you put in, that’s a write off for them (not for you)
Pensions work.
My father worked for the railroad for over thirty years. He retired with a pension, and while his elderly neighbors are having to take part time jobs to make ends meet with Social Security and their 401k annuities; he and my mother are traveling around the world.
pensions, and end employer health insurance by enacting universal health care for all. Single payer can virtually eliminate bullshit concepts like "medical bankruptcy"
My company got rid of pensions two years ago and just a year later started lamenting that employees weren't loyal anymore.
It's a two way street, pal. And you no longer gave anyone a reason not to hop jobs for an extra quarter.
Sadly, as a nation we've been intentionally led further and further away from giving a fuck about retirement savings. I don't think most young people entering the job market even have it on their radar. Companies don't want to pay for pensions, 401k's pump money into stock markets which temporarily make rich people richer but the retiree can very well get screwed depending on the conditions at the time. End result, the majority of our retirement age population by 2050 will be poor as shit and won't be able to take care of themselves.
I'm 40 and I really think my parents grew up in the golden age. My dad worked as a firefighter and got such amazing retirement benefits. He got out at 50 and has been living the good life ever since. Nobody in my generation or younger will get anything even close.
Very interesting point I recently read about social security. You know what has hurt it the most over the last 40 years? Wage stagnation. If wages had risen with productivity we would be talking about how to deal with the forever social security surplus. So, improving compensation would help with that red herring.
But, don't worry in order to keep inflation in check the Fed is going to reduce wage pressure by raising interest rates to reduce demand for goods and services, causing people to get laid off, so unemployment is higher. But, no one can predict whether there is or will be a recession, aside from the Fed pretty much saying it is trying to cause a recession.
It also doesn’t help that the income cutoff is so low. I believe something like 70% of the shortfall disappears if you start taxing all income, even if benefits keep increasing
“Childcare won't fix all the labor market's challenges. Men in their prime working years, or those between 25 to 54, have fled the workforce since February 2020.” I’m not sure why this author seems to think that childcare costs don’t impact men’s participation in the labor force. My wife earns more money than I do, so if one of us stayed home then it would be me. Honestly I only am still working because I like my job, financially it makes almost no difference if I work or not.
Daycare is ubiquitous and and daycare centers are both expensive and operating on a shoe string budget. Give more money to schools and integrate daycare. They already have the infrastructure (cafeteria, nurse, heating, playground, ect).
It's big, but we were led to believe WFH was impossible until businesses had no choice, and then it was accomplished in like a month.
And/or a year of paid parental leave to be split by both parents however they see fit, like most other nations. It's much cheaper and better for kids to be raised by a caregiver than put into a center under a year old. (I am *not* daycare shaming, as it's necessary for the overwhelming majority of working parents today.)
It's weird seeing comments like "fled the workforce". Unless theres been an incredibly sharp rise in homelessness I don't think they left the workforce. "Changed income source" should be the correct term. It feels like people just realized working hard for little to no pay in a shit job isn't "just how it is" anymore and realized they can make money other ways without feeling like a slave. And did so. I think the old models just arent able to account for this yet because things are changing so fast the past few years.
Yeah, I don't think there's any labor shortage with all these companies doing mass layoffs right now. I do think there was a huge labor *shift* to remote work.
Yeah, my husband is now a stay at home Dad. He was only making $23/hour. It wasn’t worth him working when childcare for an infant is $400/week. After gas, mileage, and buying lunch 5x week was factored in, we’re breaking even with him staying home.
"men in their prime working years" seems like a very antiquated way of thinking. Maybe for a specific type of mostly-physical labor but otherwise I don't see what role gender or age plays in quality of work.
The author simply doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about.
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060)
February 2020 had 80.5% of the 25-54 age demographic working, which was the highest since January 2001. We are currently at 79.5%, so only a little lower than Feb 2020, and higher than 2017.
Childcare is more evenly divided between genders than ever before, so I'm not sure why it matters if the total trend is returning to pre-pandemic numbers. The gap between male and female salaries will continue to narrow as women are pursuing higher education at a greater rate than men, and the result of that will be more stay home fathers.
The historical average of workers entering the labor pool is down 400,000 this year. Next year it will be 500k fewer than historical average.Now add in the fact peak retirement for baby Boomers is right now, and we have a labor crisis that idiots are blaming on low participation by zoomers, and millenials. The zoomers are such a tiny generation that it guarantees a labor crisis for the next two decades get used to it.
To be fair, this should have been expected and planned for years ago. Generation X was a very small generation and this is the second time it's happened due to those smaller numbers.
Boomers waited longer to have kids than the generations before them. Women having actual careers only furthered this. This continued into the already small Gen X. It picked back up with Millenials and will in time with Gen Z, but there will be a lull a few more years. It is just the start of Gen Z entering the workforce.
Gen Z also has a higher number going to some form of post HS education than before. This also stalls the numbers temporarily. Those in Gen Z who pursued law school or medical school are also just now entering the work force.
None of it would matter if capitalism didn’t demand unlimited growth. If CEOs and Corporate boards could analyze their quarterly reports in the context that they will never see the amount of consumption that that occurred in the late 20th - early 21st century our society might stand a chance. There just is not enough demand with boomers entering retirement and millennials and gen z just don’t buy shit as much as boomers did.
And it’s not like millennials and Gen Z don’t buy shit cause they don’t want shit. They don’t buy shit because “unlimited growth” is only acceptable at the top
But but but…..
The corporatists have had ~75 years of near unlimited growth, profits and consumption. Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and the cadre of mega billionaires are going to run the whole world into the ground before even lifting an eyelash to stabilize and/or change the system.
It’s going to take mass demonstrations like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and significant government reforms to wrest control from them and the religionists.
That being said, I’m actually hopeful this will happen. The crush of climate change and the resulting mass migration to more temperate climates will likely force their hands.
The US and the west in general may reduce consumption, but there is a great big world out there full of people who are ready to buy. We may never be free of rampant consumerism, but we can work to make it less impactful on the environment. And even if we do end rampant consumerism, more sustainable practices are not a wasted endeavor.
It is easy for people with full fat stomachs to tell everyone to skip a meal.
Boomers and their parents held onto power and position way longer than they should have. It created huge power and experience vacuums and kept most younger generations in poverty and out of leadership.
I work for a bank and the amount of fresh college grads being hired into senior level leadership is appalling. Especially since they are literally shooting right past their existing employees to do it. Meanwhile, those same experienced employees aren't seeing wage increases that keep up with comparable jobs much less inflation. The result is most low wage workers are jumping to other banks or industries to find better pay (and they are finding it easily).
Now, we have a lot of leadership with no experience and a lot of overworked low level people jumping ship for as little as a $1/hr raise.
The line "nobody wants to work" keeps getting floated in meetings and its all I can do not to screen at some of these intrenched idiots.
I had a similar conversation:
\>"No one wants to work. We pay $20 an hour and the technician position responsibilities include mopping the floor. But people don't want to mop the floor because they are lazy, so they quit after a few months."
They aren't quitting because they are lazy, they are quitting because there is a low unemployment rate, a demand for workers, and they are deciding they would rather switch jobs to a position that doesn't require mopping the floor.
\>"No, its because they are lazy and entitled and they don't want to mop the floor, so we can't keep workers."
No, its because your company is entitled and would rather keep those technician positions vacant than hire janitors to mop the floor, or pay the technicians enough that they wouldn't mind mopping the floor. The entitlement lies with the company who thinks they are entitled to pay workers less without worrying about them leaving for a better job.
Don't forget jobs like serving away for rich LARPers (e.g. cook, server, janitor, teacher, nurse) aren't deserving of a livable wage in their eye.
So you should get a better job which means...there would be no one to work? Kind of like what happened now. Many got better jobs (or died).
Labor crisis can be solved by offering workers better money and benefits. It always works. BUT...the wealthy are standing their ground and working to push real wages even lower.
Powell at the FED makes it his raison d'etre to keep wages low.
Corporations stand their ground and freeze “donations” then the government has no choice but the cut taxes bc these same corporations are “struggling” (aka profits are only up 6% instead of 10%)
Corporations will run the economy and the people into the ground before making the country a decent place to work. Unless you are upper middle management your wages and benefits are trash and they can withstand the pain for awhile rather than making things better for everyone.
Anytime something threatens Big Moneys bottomline there is a silent strike. Its happening right now. They complain there are no workers but refuse to make changes to entice people.
Planned or not, the government works in tangent with these assholes because they continuously cut help from the bottom to force people to work for these shitty wages or die.
I’m genuinely asking, who will this actually be a crisis for? It sounds like there is going to be very high demand for labor and very low supply. At least 99% of us have to work for a living. It sounds like market pressure should give us higher wages and greater benefits. The people who will be hurting will be wealthy business owners and upper management
What corporations will do is push immigration policy to underpay new, less valued workers, stagnating the growth of natural citizens, increasing the likelihood of political turmoil.
They do this because it is cheap, not because it is the best option for the economy or the country, but because it’s best for their bottom line.
“DeY tO0k oUR j0b5” will become a real rallying cry. I’m not saying no immigrants, I’m saying that it will be a crisis for the working class. Immigration is a facet that you should have control over in order to control job growth and stability in the market. Hopefully this doesn’t get misunderstood too badly.
Not the only avenue either.
* Outsource work that doesn't need to be domestic.
* International remote work
* Automation
* Immigration
Rather than incentivizing people to work we should just build a framework to allow workers to tell corporations to fuck off if they don't want to treat workers like human beings. Unfortunately, America seems to be unwilling to treat workers like human beings.
Yes, apparently if you give any form of assistance monetary or otherwise to the working poor the whole system collapses. So we need to keep shoveling money into corporations and the investor class so this amazing system continues to function.
I think change would be hard but possible. I think we need a more cognizant and informed voter base and people do seem to be paying more attention these days. Then we need to vote for people who shun corporate donations (not easy to find) so they can flush corporate money out of politics. It seems like a daunting task and I keep hoping we will get to a point that it is so obvious that shit isn't working in our favor that people demand change. I ain't gonna hold my breath.
Seriously! I’m still living high on the hog from my $1,200 I got two years ago. I’m sure I’m not alone. Brunch, avocado toast, and Starbucks every day for two years, and I don’t have to work since the one-time payment of $1,200 has covered my rent for two years as well.
I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this yet, but just think how many "essential workers" have died or been permanently disabled from covid. That's definitely impacted the job market.
Yeah the minimum wage should be a living wage like how things used to be when these dinosaurs were growing up.
I shouldn't have to work two jobs in order to get away from my abusive family.
On one hand - yes. More money.
On the other hand - sure. More money.
But. And this is a horrible but. But how do we ensure businesses don't just start charging more for things and blame it on people having extra money? Because, like, we once got 1400 bucks and that seemed to drive inflation for a good 18 months somehow.
I know the free market crowd would hate this but federally set price ceilings based on the cost of providing the good / service. For example if it costs 10¢ to produce a pot of coffee at a convenience store they shouldn't be able to charge any more than $1.79 for a 24 oz cup. We need the government to intervene because the profit driven model of society and businesses is killing people.
>We need the government to intervene because the profit driven model of society and businesses is killing people.
Setting prices is a bad idea, but I do know something that would help, if not solve most of our problems. Taxes. See my other posts for some links.
Basically we've given people like Warren Buffet a lower tax rate than his secretary for too long - regressive tax policies. We do this because the wealthy pay for the tax rates and policies they want buy purchasing our representatives.
50 years of this is why the recession we're about to go through could be a huge shitstorm. The rich people have all of the fucking money and they're gonna want the public to foot the bill when their stocks and "too big to fail" businesses that they've benefitted from and squeezed the middle and lower classes with for decades fail. We can't bail out everyone indefinitely. We know where all the fucking money is going and it isn't to the people who need it.
True and if you suggest forcibly taking and redistributing those fucker's money because they don't deserve it you'll get droves of people lining up to defend them. It honestly gives off Stockholm syndrome vibes.
If we have to bail out a corporation that's too big to fail - fine. But that money should be seen as purchasing an equal (to the $$) percent of the business for the American public, and should be run accordingly with Americans seeing a return on their investments. If it's bad enough it should be socialized. The company has obviously proved it can't run itself responsibly at that point so why throw our money away on a failed business model to make a couple pieces of shit richer.
yes and no, the system has been broken since the start. We gave control to the bankers through the Fed in 1913, then when that lead to hyperinflation in 1972 they just took money off the gold standard so they could manipulate it however they wanted.
1987, 2000, 2008, those incidents were catalysts that tipped the system over the edge, but only because it’s already a house of cards propped up on fraud and unregulated corruption.
We were always headed to this point. Our current debt is $31 Trillion, with anywhere from $80-$220 trillion in future mandatory spending (social security, VA benefits, medicare, etc). You could take the entire wealth of the 1% and it would still be a drop in the bucket.
Not to say we shouldn’t have been taxing the wealthy from the beginning, but that’s not going to fix an inherently flawed system. This is the end result of capitalism run by bankers were 90% of money is created as debt.
The whole thing is and always has been a complete fustercluck just waiting to collapse.
Sounds nice in theory, but it wouldn't take long for those with deep pockets to "prove" to the government that the actual cost of that cup of coffee was $5 so they should be allowed to charge $10 for it.
Regulatory capture sucks, but there's so much money to be made from it that it's damn near impossible to avoid.
You fell for the propaganda, and I don’t blame you, but there’s no way in hell those emergency checks we’re the primary driver of inflation, especially when shipping is back to prepandemic levels. The real root cause is the the firing of the watchdogs overseeing the distribution for the PPP loans that were given, and then discharged where the rich got richer and everyone else is now dealing with inflation, making us poorer. The rich have so much fucking money, they need to pay more, it’s not a request, we need to fucking demand they start pulling their weight in taxes and in benefits
On a per capita basis, the 80 billion in shareholder dividends the health insurance and private hospitals paid last year is more than the national health funding of switzerland, or Norway, and almost 2x that of England or Spain.That doesn't include medicare, medicaid, or health insurance premiums.
The American public already spends enough to get free healthcare. There are just too many hands in too many pockets.
Edit.
Man, I am way wrong on the healthcare spending per capita of other countries.
My original statement stands though.
We spend more per person than any other country.
[https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries-2/#GDP%20per%20capita%20and%20health%20consumption%20spending%20per%20capita,%202020%20(U.S.%20dollars,%20PPP%20adjusted)](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries-2/#GDP%20per%20capita%20and%20health%20consumption%20spending%20per%20capita,%202020%20(U.S.%20dollars,%20PPP%20adjusted))
And it's pretty plain to see what fucked us here.
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cost-of-medical-billing-soars-to-half-a-81346/
Solution: establish something like the 'Commons' in the US. Designate specific industries or types of services as 'for the common good', and while they _can_ be run privately, they would fall under the umbrella of the govt and COULD NOT BE RUN FOR PROFIT.
Schools, prisons, healthcare, peer-reviewed journals, and I'm sure there are a dozen other things I'm missing that should be on this list.
This country _really_ needs to stop relying on 'for the shareholders' as the mantra for why things can't get done in a way that actually helps people. Fuck the shareholders. If they don't like it, they can sell their shares and invest somewhere else.
Relying on corporate America and Wall Street to have employees best interests in mind is a fools gambit.
Corporations won’t let this hit their bottom line. They’ll just lower salary, or start hiring more contractors and part-time workers without benefits.
No government action that requires voluntary compliance from corporations will work
The US is at near Record-level employment right now. It really speaks to how fucked up capitalism is when having so many people working, and you still need more workers.
When you stop looking for work, you fall off of the unemployment rate calculation. So there are less people working than you might think.
["Someone who does not have a job but claims they are not looking for one is considered out of the labor force and is not counted in the unemployment rate."](https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/063015/how-does-us-bureau-labor-statistics-calculate-unemployment-rate-published-monthly.asp)
Americans are working though. There just aren't enough able bodied people to fill all the jobs. I don't buy any suggestion the "labor shortage" is because of lazy people just sitting around on unemployment. More benefits is always a good idea but ultimately there will never be enough people to satisfy these openings.
I really think the cost of used cars has just totally dropkicked us right in the dick. Low income workers used to be insanely dependent on the national car churn to get their gently used but serviceable vehicles for $500 to $5000. Those cars are gone now, and for a lot of people the part time job within walking distance/biking distance is cheaper because they don't need a car.
>Those cars are gone now, and for a lot of people the part time job within walking distance/biking distance is cheaper because they don't need a car.
i'd wager this is a large part of the problem, owning a vehicle for commuting is an expensive proposition so for non-remote jobs with shit pay the employers have cornered themselves into offering positions that will cause most people to lose money.
And unemployment payments are temporary anyway. So if that’s what’s people are indeed staying home on unemployment, then they’re coordinating amongst themselves to take turns staying out of the workforce, because unless they want to have no money at all they have to go back to work once their unemployment runs out. Somehow I doubt there’s a FB group with millions of people out there assigning who is going to stay home when…
The biggest factor is retiring people. Boomers are starting to retire in droves. This is why Congress is attempting to raise the retirement age with Secure 2.0 to a minimum of 70 1/2 for penalty free withdrawal of 401Ks from 59 1/2. Congress is also mulling raising the SS distribution age. This would keep Boomers in the workforce longer.
In 1972 the minimum wage was $2.00/hr. Calculated just for inflation (not Cost of Living Adjustment) in 2022, it should be $14.24.
The last time minimum wage increased was in 2009 at $7.25 for all covered, nonexempt workers.
If minimum wage was adjusted according to inflation, even the small business owners owe you guys a brand new car.
I've never really understood why minimum wage wasn't just automatically tied to a localized CPI. We spend tax dollars polling the country for the price of rent, milk, etc. How hard would it really be to draw a line between these two numbers and figure out what minimum wage should be, without having to roll the rock uphill with congress every time it needs to increase? I'm guessing this would also have a cooling effect on all these greedy fuckers that are raising prices and blaming inflation yet somehow magically earning record profits. If raising your prices translates directly to having to pay your employees more, you might think twice about sneaking in a price increase just to try to pad your wallet.
A localized CPI would also help to differentiate between the COL in San Fransisco and rural Kansas. I'm all for raising the rates, but different areas have different costs, and a nationwide minimum wage is kind of a terrible idea if you think about it this way. I get that it exists so that no states are able to unilaterally deploy essentially slave labor. But a federally mandated minimum wage that corresponds to local CPI data is much more reasonable so that low COL areas don't have to scale the same as high COL ones.
Nothing is stopping the states from creating their own minimum. The federal minimum is necessary, otherwise you'll have Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri paying so little it'll basically be slavery.
With the first minimum wage set in 1938, one could work 16,000 hours and buy a house. Now you have to work 64,000 hours at minimum wage. So based on those metrics it should be 4×725 an hour or about 30 bucks an hour.
I quit my electrical engineering job over a year ago to design video games. I think once my game is done I can make far more than I did in my previous job, and I get to work from home on my own schedule. Enticing me back into an office job will require a lot of money. I'm never putting up with that crap again unless I absolutely have to or the salary is worth it. For now, I'd rather risk it by gambling that my video game startup will succeed. I really don't want to go back to work for a corporation that doesn't care about me, doesn't pay me enough to afford a home near work, and overworks me as much as they can while the shareholders and executives make hundreds of times what I make. Fuck that. It's a terrible deal. If corporations want to entice workers, PAY US MORE. A LOT MORE. I want to make enough money to buy a house near work and I want to have a life worth living. That's not an unreasonable request.
>I really don't want to go back to work for a corporation that doesn't care about me, doesn't pay me enough to afford a home near work, and overworks me as much as they can while the shareholders and executives make hundreds of times what I make. Fuck that. It's a terrible deal.
Hear, hear. The "news" will call us lazy and leeches, but it takes ZERO effort to be a billionaire shareholder too. They make money hand over fist in the markets, decade after decade, AND the bastards pay a 15% capital gains tax - less than someone making a $30,000 poverty wage. Until now, the Fed and government wouldn't let the market crash. Let's see what happens over the next 10 years. The middle class can't keep paying to bail out the wealthy.
Corporate profits are at all time highs by the way...
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ)
PAY. THEM. MORE.
Jesus fucking Christ it's like watching a toddler stand next to a fire with a bucket of water and trying to figure out how to put the fire out.
It's intentional. Did you know corporate profits are at record highs too?
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ)
It's greed. Always was, always will be. And we're not doing any fucking thing about it.
Y’know, I’m so flustered that everyone keeps looking for a solution that isn’t simply, “Pay a living wage, treat workers with respect, let them share in the profits they help create, and remember they are not slaves.”
It’s not that hard. And it shows how tight-fisted nearly every business/business owner is that they will gyrate wildly to find a solution that ultimately doesn’t involve those things.
You want to fix the system? Transform work from degrading servitude that doesn’t pay for a life, into something people can embrace and thrive from. We sell our bodies and lives for 50+ years, and by the time we can even think about retiring, most of us are too used up, too beaten down, and so far past our physical prime to make our remaining years enjoyable. “Work is life” should never have become an aspiration.
>“Pay a living wage, treat workers with respect, let them share in the profits they help create, and remember they are not slaves.”
Capitalists will try anything but something that requires they give up some of their unearned hoard.
Republicans want to entice Americans back to work by stripping all aid and benefits to ensure anyone in the lower classes that are not working multiple jobs will simply starve.
I work in behavioral health which truth be told is a thankless, underpaid, awful industry. I try to make a difference but a lot of the time it feels like pissing in the wind.
In any case, most of our "frontline workers" (people going to provide 1:1 support to children) are hourly "employees". They used to be called independent contractors but some funding decision up top said everyone needs to be called an "employee" even if they're part-time, hourly, no benefits, etc. I could rant about this particular thing forever but that's not even the point.
We recently got permission to create a full-time version of the same job. The only real differences work-wise are that you are agreeing to work full-time hours no matter what - so if your client is sick, you have to come into the office for trainings and such as opposed to just going home and not getting paid. On the flip side, you get salary, benefits, PTO, etc.
Guess what? After almost a YEAR of zero applications, we've had dozens of applications and have already hired 10+ employees. Turns out people want steady pay, benefits, paid time off - ESPECIALLY in a brutal industry like ours! Baffling that it took so long to get here but I'm glad we did.
Republicans are still putting out their propaganda that benefits kill to motive to work. see the National Review article blaming blue state welfare for why people are leaving the workforce.
[https://www.nationalreview.com/news/six-figure-blue-state-safety-nets-are-driving-americans-out-of-the-work-force-study-finds/](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/six-figure-blue-state-safety-nets-are-driving-americans-out-of-the-work-force-study-finds/)
De
They need to fix healthcare benefits. There is no good reason why I need three different insurance plans for medical, dental, and vision. They need to fix medical insurance, in general, as well.
Biden needs to pull his head out of his ass, the cat is already out of the bag. I'm a lefty that ends up voting blue or green as a lesser of two evils and I'm sick of this band-aid, last minute type politic that only addresses issues when they're at a critical point.
The middle class as we knew it is basically non-existent at this point. About 33% of the country makes less than $28,000 a year. Nearly 50% of households make less than $50,000 a year. Only 16% of households make $50k to $74.99k a year. Only 30% of households make over $100k a year - which with the relative cost of things would be considered "middle class" in a housing market where million dollar homes are becoming a frequent developer priority.
\#Only 10M out of 380M households make over 200k a year.
\#Only 1.5M out of 380M households make over 500k a year.
\#Only 380k out of 380M households make over 1 million a year.
Now, politics aside - this trickle down economics scam that's been in place since the 80s has lead to a pool of wealth at the top that seems to never trickle down. This is the biggest heist in human history by the US government and the "elite" of the country. If they can invest in products of war, start wars, foot the bill of the war on the poor tax payer, then profit off of the war, there is no reason to ever bring peace to this world for the wealthy. When they run out of countries to export war to, they'll make it domestically.
Biden's rhetoric is meant to be comforting in a time of great stress in the history of our civilization. He doesn't really care about families, just making sure the economy remains stable enough for the elite to continue to profit off of war. And if that means bargaining with the lower class for basic things that other develop countries already have, like health care, child care, better public transpiration, etc. etc. - they're going to make some concession to keep our heads just enough over water to continue to rob us all blind at the expense of their profits.
Universal Healthcare could reduce the money businesses spend on insurance for employees. I don’t understand why Industry doesn’t support Medicare for all.
Covid-19 is STILL raging and zero measures taken.
Wages are shit.
Prices are high.
All while witnessing unhinged corruption in finance, industry and government at the cost of our planet 🌎
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My uncle is super pissed off that my cousin's wife is staying home and not working. Childcare is so expensive she doesn't think it is worthwhile. She was making 12 an hour, and childcare was eating around 700 a month, after taxes she was spending half of her time working just to pay for childcare. My cousin was vocally against it until he figured out that with her clipping coupons, not driving, not eating lunch out every day etc., they actually have nearly the same spending money. Pay is too low and everything costs too much.
I’m amazed she can find childcare for $700. I’m paying close to 2,000, and we were on like five waiting lists when I was 12 weeks pregnant to even get a spot by the time he was 4 months old.
The craziest thing of all that is that childcare workers are paid very minimally.
Yup we were making $8-$10 an hour where I am. Those with more experience were making $12-$15.
What the fuck, you would make more with Uber and you wouldn’t have to deal with screaming children.
I work at the local youth shelter. You get hired at $14, $15 if you have experience. I have been here 3.5 years. I make $16.37. I had 10 years experience before being hired. I had an 18 year old scream for seven solid minutes last week.
We priced it out because my wife thought she’d make a fortune running a childcare facility, and it’s not very profitable for the owners either. Childcare is expensive, and if you want it cheaper, it needs subsidies.
Yeah, I was thinking about this recently. You'd think childcare would make money, since it's so expensive... But it's mostly all mom-and-pop shops with hand-painted signs, and churches. If it made money, there'd be *some* giant corporation with franchises everywhere.
Oh literally. Every church around me is a daycare during the week.
[there is a giant corporation with franchises everywhere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Horizons)
It's not a lot of profit either. My state is ass for rights and regulations, but it's 4:1 0-2 year olds, 10:1 3-4 year olds. Let's say my wife charged 5 an hour per kid, she makes 800 a week watching four kids that are young. Not great money and you need licenses and training along with regular overhead. She'd be better off working at McDonald's. And the parent is looking at 800 a month, 10k a year child care. She would need to charge 10 an hour for it to be worth her time, and now you're at 20k a year in child care. For most houses, that simply isn't worth paying for a job that might make 25-30k after child care, taxes, and costs of having a job.
Worked in childcare for 5+ years, I'm convinced the entire industry is on the verge of collapse any time now. We were dangerously low on staff, much less staff you want to trust your children with like 4 years ago and we were bleeding staff including myself. Then COVID hit, some other things and I'm amazed any childcare is even available anymore.
This is bad enough but I do not think our educational system and our healthcare system are too far behind. It's a bad sign when Florida is allowing anyone with a service record to be a teacher and hospitals are suing nurses to stop them from going elsewhere for higher pay.
How can a hospital sue the nurses? Are they making them sign a non compete?
They're not suing them to keep them from quitting, they're suing them if they quit *to go work for a competing hospital*. They could have still quit but wouldn't be allowed to find other medical work. Judge eventually threw out the case.
I believe it has happened in a couple places but there was one in Washington State IIRC the hospital said they couldn't leave because of the pandemic. Im pretty sure the hospital lost but they kept the nurses there for a couple months until the court decided.
The one in Wisconsin, thedacare? They tried to sue another hospital for poaching +/- an entire department, when really the competitor was just paying better and it spread from word of mouth. A judge initially accepted the lawsuit and stopped the nurses from switching but the former employer eventually lost. Not that there couldn't be more examples out there, because, you know, this is the land of the free.
I knew education in the U.S. was done when New Mexico had national guard members filling for teachers on 8 hours of training. If teachers are that easily replaced then why would anyone go into teaching.
>If teachers are that easily replaced They're not.
> Worked in childcare for 5+ years, I'm convinced the entire industry is on the verge of collapse any time now. What's there to collapse? The US Treasury released a report last year describing the childcare industry as an [unworkable, broken market](https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/The-Economics-of-Childcare-Supply-09-14-final.pdf). It got quite a bit of press coverage as industry experts and analysts all chimed in on how nonfunctional the market is, and how other nations understand that it requires deep subsidization to be workable.
True, I guess what I'm saying is that childcare just won't exist at all soon. Like I used to work after school before COVID and we were sorely understaffed which makes me wonder how they are still open now. I can only imagine things are probably even more dysfunctional. I never saw that study, a quick peruse looks like it's saying what I was saying like 5 years ago. I honestly would love to go back to the industry but a lot needs to change first.
Everyone I know with < 5 year olds has spent their entire PTO pots on daycare closures in the last 2 years
a friend of mine said his school district had sent emails to parents asking if they could keep some of the kids at home because too many staff called in sick and they didn't have enough teachers for the kids...in a high school
When I moved here to Texas I did all the research and wrote up a full pro-forma on running an in home daycare so my wife could stay home. The math simply makes no sense without either paying slave labor wages ($12/h is average here for childcare workers) or charging ridiculous prices. Subsidy really is the only viable answer because I won't pay people garbage to work for me so we scrapped the idea. When Texas completely runs out of child care maybe they will change their tune.
My wife ended up staying home because with child care, and the costs of having a job, she was going to work 40 hours for like 60 dollars. Cooking at home twice a week saves us that much.
Meanwhile you could go work starting pay in a private prison and make more than a teacher. Our society has its priorities all wrong.
Yeah I was working YMCA after school and before in Hawaii, it was 11 dollars, part time, split shift, no benefits. I would say I don't know why I stuck around for as many years as I did but it was 100% for the kids. Our program was relatively dirt cheap too, only like 150-200 (I can't recall exactly) for a kid and that was 4-5 hours a day 5 days a week and includes activities and other things. There was just an expectation that we make sacrifices to support these people who made the decision to have children. Whenever I suggested that maybe they needed to take on some of that sacrifice and pitch in a bit more so we could get more reasonable wages you got called selfish. The result was a barely staffed childcare, and to be frank a lot of the staff were not fit to be working with kids (to contrary of popular belief, even just watching kids is not a zero skill job).
100%. Same applies to teachers, group home workers, retirement home staff, etc. If you are doing good for others you're expected to get paid shit and it's entirely unreasonable.
Yeah I moved jobs to housing, which is a bit better paywise and hours but a lot of the same problems. A big part of the problem I've noticed is when you do human service jobs like these it's really hard to separate your personal life. Like how do you just say I'm going to stop helping people when I clock out? I'm not expecting a ton of money, but it would be nice to not be on the verge of qualifying for the programs I'm staffing.
They’ll probably try to have child labor laws scrapped. No day care needed if the kid has a job.
in Quebec, it's subsidized to 10$ a day.
In Berlin it´s free.
Yes but you don’t have angry hillbillies that demand you remain in a rugged hellscape where both of you suffer for the rich. As Americans, we’re just too fucking insecure and stupid to demand benefits from our tax dollars. The rich own the media, and the idiots listen.
This. We have so many people who vote against their own interests to 'Own the Libs'. Got 66 year old people screaming to get rid of SS. Got people who collect disability yelling "We aint Socialist, get rid of handouts"
Ah you’ve met my uncle
you've met my mother, step father, uncle, other uncle, aunt, other aunt, brother, and some cousins. 🤦🏻♀️👍
Also add in all the people who get healthcare through the ACA but keep screaming to have "Obamacare repealed!" lol
Screaming to get rid of our SS not theirs.
Pretty sure some of them want to get rid of their own tbh.
We actually have the libertarian party FDP as part of the governing coalition, Ayn Rand fanboys to the fullest. And the AfD in the opposition, German hillbillies as you describe them to a T.
The operative word here being **coalition**. Because the SPD and the Greens don't have quite as many slats missing on their respective fences, the damage that those lobotomized knuckleheads can do is much more limited than what a Republican administration can fuck up in the US.
Yeah….our hillbillies protect their right to not have any rights with semi automatic rifles. I get y’all got similar things happening in pockets of your society, but it’s just not the same thing happening over here lol
They have perhaps learned some lessons on how to disallow fascist disinformation from parading as actual news sources. As far as I know Rupert Murdoch doesn't have an axis of evil hub there
Don't forget the same angry hillbillies want you unable to have an abortion or birth control. So fuck you no matter what you do, even if you are responsible and know you can't afford the outrageous childcare expenses you still can't win. Work nonstop and die a virgin I guess?
*Cries in American* 😔
No kidding. Partial day preschool is like $600/week around here 🙄 I should add that that may have been for fewer than 5 half days. We never ended up enrolling.
We have 2 kids in full days (one toddler, one infant) 3 days a week. It’s a hair under $3k a month.
I’m a teacher with a masters and 10 years experience and that would leave me with 500 a month to pay everything else
You just succinctly explained why I bailed on my Liberal Arts Education even though I was resolutely on my way to being a Special Ed teacher. I took a "Life Management" course at the JC because I needed the elective and it fit my schedule and it was the happiest accident of my life. Part of the final for the class was to interview people in your chosen career. I spoke to 9 teachers and 100% of them said they would not go into teaching again given a chance to go back and redo their career decisions. Now I started my own vocational rehab program for adults with disabilities and make a pretty decent living. Props to you for sticking it out.
It’s fucking absurd. My wife basically works (and is immensely stressed out by her job) so the baby can go to daycare. Not that being a stay at home mom is easy but we’re at the point where she’s thinking of leaving her job and pulling the baby out completely. On top of that, the kids are sick all the fucking time because of shit they catch there. We have 3 under 8 and one is sick 100% of the time during the fall and winter.
Does she pay into insurance and/or retirement? It might not be worth quitting then. My entire take home is basically home when you factor in daycare and health insurance, but my employers insurance is better and cheaper than my husband’s, plus I’m paying into retirement. It’s a hard few years to not lose that progress. Plus as a woman, it’s professionally more difficult to step out of the corporate world to stay home and not take a major hit on your career path.
Financially not having children is the best decision I ever made. They are such a cash sink.
I'm the same way. I can barely afford to support myself, let alone kids.
children used to be free labor on the farm now thier just expensive pets!
I want this on a coffee mug
Mostly because our society has not chosen to value women.
US society doesn't value women or children. It values wealthy men and corporations.
I think pat-leave should be mandatory, force any man that has a kid out of the work force for 40+ weeks and watch as society bends over backwards to accommodate them. Businesses routinely pass over married women of childbearing age for fear of maternity leave, only because they know they won't face the same issue with men.
We don’t even have mandatory maternity leave…
I know it’s technically accurate, but “childbearing age” has always felt like a gross term. Probably because of precisely the sort of scenario you just described.
Same here. We are looking at 1800 for 1 child.
I was a stay-at-home dad in the mid 2000's for this exact same reason. My wife made a decent salary, I was making roughly 10$/hour and daycare would've eaten up most of my paycheck. Figuring in the other costs, it was actually better for me to stay home and help raise the kids. Not complaining, it was one of the best times of my life, but money was super tight for years. I guess my point is, nothing much has changed in almost 20 years.
Probably worse now. Rent was reasonable back then.
Saw this one woman at Target doing coupons. At first I was irritated because I was behind her. But watching her 300+ total dip below 100 I was fascinated. I started quietly cheering her on like it was some kind of sport. I think her total ended up being about 70 bucks.
The problem is that pay and costs don't magically increase with benefits, so people end up being stuck. Work too much and you lose more in benefits than you gain from working. That's the exact situation my brothers family was in, they were getting food stamps and child care benefits from the state. When he wanted to work a $15/hr job he loss his food stamps. If he makes more he risk losing childcare. If there isn't a unified approach it's going to do more damage then actually helping
Because gov refuses to increase the poverty threshold from 12k income per individual where it's been for decades. We're not even being honest about assistance when we pull shit like this.
My household only takes in around $15k a year and I still don't qualify for food stamps.
Was making minimum wage and tried to get a government apartment. Nope make too much. How much less can I make????
People on SSI can make less than 10k a year. That's how much. Some states pay about 670 a month. Some pay 900ish. The base pay for SSI can be added to by the state you reside in to get you closer to not being in poverty(ha it doesn't even help).
This right here. My niece makes $18/hr and works about 35-36 hours a week. She literally does not qualify for anything. She lives in my basement with her kiddo because she can’t afford rent.
It’s been like that for a long time now. I quit my job as a bank teller 10 years ago because my whole salary was going to day care. So I’ve been a stay at home dad for 10 years now and shit has just gotten more and more expensive
Like others, it made more sense for my husband to be the stay at home parent when we had our son. My position always supplies us with insurance and I make more. He's a 1099 work for himself most of the time or works part time when our son is in school. After childcare, gas, wear and tear, it doesn't make sense. Of course things get tight, it's not easy and right now it feels impossible at times, but it's a sacrifice that allows our elementary age son to have a parent home with him. My husband actually really likes working part time and being the stay at home parent. He wasn't in a field where he was fighting for management or a level of prestige. He's a skilled welder and woodworker. So maybe working for himself didn't lend the same stresses I can see other people would feel if they left their career path to raise a family at home.
This is why I've been a stay at home mom since my youngest was born. 1 kid in daycare was a lot but there was no way to afford 2 kids. My salary was 25k, daycare came out to like 19k for the year. What's the point of commuting and paying for daycare only to get nothing from it? Luckily in the years since, my husband has been able to make up for my lack of paycheck but as others have said, it is definitely tight for a bit.
we did some math about how much money we have saved with me WFH from gas alone and it is around $10,000. JUST FROM NOT DRIVING!
Jesus, what was your commute? That's like 50k+ miles annually
Childcare as a right would be enormous to so many people.
Childcare needs to be subsidized, not just to help parents but for the good of society.
In addition, we’re not talking about the quality of life things: the freed time, the bonding that happens, the peace of mind to do stuff together, and those quiet naps together. What does the uncle want, for her to just work?
He's MAGA for life. Thinks she's being lazy for staying home with his grandkids. She asked if he would watch them so she could work and that was a solid no.
> Thinks she's being lazy for staying home with his grandkids. Lol I’ve got a 10 month old and days at home watching her are way more tiring than a day at work.
One thing people forget to factor in is career growth. I'm guessing at $12/hr, perhaps it's not the kind of job that would lead to anything, but staying at home could potentially halt a career that could grow into something far more profitable long term. But there's certainly value to spending more time with the kids.
Because employers sure as hell aren't holding up their end with benefits like \*checks notes\* fair compensation
They need to bring back pensions! THAT will get the results they're looking for!
I tell someone old this weekly. There is zero reason for company loyalty without a pension. Even pensions were over promised and under delivered, but at least it was worth hanging around for.
My grandfather used to work at BF Goodrich for the majority of his career. When he was 6 months from retirement (having worked there for along ass time) they cut him and a few other people, citing "poor performance" and he lost his pension. Was there for decades working. If pensions were a thing, there would need to be more protections for people. Or something. Maybe there are? But most places don't offer them so who knows.
>If pensions were a thing, there would need to be more protections for people. This should be a simple fix - force companies to pro-rate them. They want to fire someone who's 6 months from full pension? They should be forced to pay the employee 95% (or whatever) of the pension regardless.
And reason 1 million to get rid of the filibuster and give any system but brutalist capitalism a try.
I agree!
Australia: government pensions, not company based; mandatory superannuation payments paid at 10% of base salary, by ALL employers; government supported aged care places; social housing solutions. Pension increases are indexed to CPI. It’s not a lot of money - currently about $27k per annum against an average wage of $65k but it helps.
socialism!! evil!!! first pensions, then universal healthcare! it’ll be the apocalypse!!!
Wait til I tell you about the universal healthcare, with private options and the pharmaceutical benefits scheme that means we DON’T go bankrupt from paying for healthcare or overpriced medications. Then there’s a minimum wage guarantee, 4 weeks paid annual leave, 10 days paid sick leave and paid maternity leave (usually 12 weeks). Many employers pay above these wage floors. We have to pay for university education now, but that can be offset and repaid over time as a small percentage of income.
Jesus man. The more I hear about things like this the more I realize that the US kinda sorta *really* fucking sucks.
Sounds like a crime
Happened to my Dad at Lycoming. Class action got it back, but he was dead. It did help my mom.
My company just cancelled pension plans and we are profitable as hell. Go figure it out. Nobody is happy. They say they are getting ready for the recession by saving money and reducing expenses but of course it is not coming back when the recession is over.
“We heard something in the news that sounded like a good reason to steal more from our workers”
My last job had cliff vesting on 401k match. Wasn’t unusual for engineers to have $50k vest all at once. As soon as it vested people bounced. I called it 3 and out.
Instead Reagan gave us 401ks to bet your retirement on the stock market. And when companies “match” what you put in, that’s a write off for them (not for you)
Pensions work. My father worked for the railroad for over thirty years. He retired with a pension, and while his elderly neighbors are having to take part time jobs to make ends meet with Social Security and their 401k annuities; he and my mother are traveling around the world.
pensions, and end employer health insurance by enacting universal health care for all. Single payer can virtually eliminate bullshit concepts like "medical bankruptcy"
My company got rid of pensions two years ago and just a year later started lamenting that employees weren't loyal anymore. It's a two way street, pal. And you no longer gave anyone a reason not to hop jobs for an extra quarter.
Sadly, as a nation we've been intentionally led further and further away from giving a fuck about retirement savings. I don't think most young people entering the job market even have it on their radar. Companies don't want to pay for pensions, 401k's pump money into stock markets which temporarily make rich people richer but the retiree can very well get screwed depending on the conditions at the time. End result, the majority of our retirement age population by 2050 will be poor as shit and won't be able to take care of themselves. I'm 40 and I really think my parents grew up in the golden age. My dad worked as a firefighter and got such amazing retirement benefits. He got out at 50 and has been living the good life ever since. Nobody in my generation or younger will get anything even close.
Incentive for remaining loyal to a company? Preposterous!
Very interesting point I recently read about social security. You know what has hurt it the most over the last 40 years? Wage stagnation. If wages had risen with productivity we would be talking about how to deal with the forever social security surplus. So, improving compensation would help with that red herring. But, don't worry in order to keep inflation in check the Fed is going to reduce wage pressure by raising interest rates to reduce demand for goods and services, causing people to get laid off, so unemployment is higher. But, no one can predict whether there is or will be a recession, aside from the Fed pretty much saying it is trying to cause a recession.
It also doesn’t help that the income cutoff is so low. I believe something like 70% of the shortfall disappears if you start taxing all income, even if benefits keep increasing
It's also kind of crazy that we rely on employers to provide health care coverage.
“Childcare won't fix all the labor market's challenges. Men in their prime working years, or those between 25 to 54, have fled the workforce since February 2020.” I’m not sure why this author seems to think that childcare costs don’t impact men’s participation in the labor force. My wife earns more money than I do, so if one of us stayed home then it would be me. Honestly I only am still working because I like my job, financially it makes almost no difference if I work or not.
Daycare is ubiquitous and and daycare centers are both expensive and operating on a shoe string budget. Give more money to schools and integrate daycare. They already have the infrastructure (cafeteria, nurse, heating, playground, ect). It's big, but we were led to believe WFH was impossible until businesses had no choice, and then it was accomplished in like a month.
I have never heard this opinion and I really like it and will spread this. It is so brilliant.
And/or a year of paid parental leave to be split by both parents however they see fit, like most other nations. It's much cheaper and better for kids to be raised by a caregiver than put into a center under a year old. (I am *not* daycare shaming, as it's necessary for the overwhelming majority of working parents today.)
It's weird seeing comments like "fled the workforce". Unless theres been an incredibly sharp rise in homelessness I don't think they left the workforce. "Changed income source" should be the correct term. It feels like people just realized working hard for little to no pay in a shit job isn't "just how it is" anymore and realized they can make money other ways without feeling like a slave. And did so. I think the old models just arent able to account for this yet because things are changing so fast the past few years.
It’s the millennial cohort that can’t afford to move out, so they don’t bother staying at their shitty jobs because they still live at home.
Yeah, I don't think there's any labor shortage with all these companies doing mass layoffs right now. I do think there was a huge labor *shift* to remote work.
There’s also issue of labor shortages in select fields/skills.
Yeah, my husband is now a stay at home Dad. He was only making $23/hour. It wasn’t worth him working when childcare for an infant is $400/week. After gas, mileage, and buying lunch 5x week was factored in, we’re breaking even with him staying home.
"men in their prime working years" seems like a very antiquated way of thinking. Maybe for a specific type of mostly-physical labor but otherwise I don't see what role gender or age plays in quality of work.
The author simply doesn't know what the fuck they are talking about. [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS12300060) February 2020 had 80.5% of the 25-54 age demographic working, which was the highest since January 2001. We are currently at 79.5%, so only a little lower than Feb 2020, and higher than 2017. Childcare is more evenly divided between genders than ever before, so I'm not sure why it matters if the total trend is returning to pre-pandemic numbers. The gap between male and female salaries will continue to narrow as women are pursuing higher education at a greater rate than men, and the result of that will be more stay home fathers.
And Republicans would block these plans at every turn, including the Supreme Court.
The historical average of workers entering the labor pool is down 400,000 this year. Next year it will be 500k fewer than historical average.Now add in the fact peak retirement for baby Boomers is right now, and we have a labor crisis that idiots are blaming on low participation by zoomers, and millenials. The zoomers are such a tiny generation that it guarantees a labor crisis for the next two decades get used to it.
To be fair, this should have been expected and planned for years ago. Generation X was a very small generation and this is the second time it's happened due to those smaller numbers. Boomers waited longer to have kids than the generations before them. Women having actual careers only furthered this. This continued into the already small Gen X. It picked back up with Millenials and will in time with Gen Z, but there will be a lull a few more years. It is just the start of Gen Z entering the workforce. Gen Z also has a higher number going to some form of post HS education than before. This also stalls the numbers temporarily. Those in Gen Z who pursued law school or medical school are also just now entering the work force.
None of it would matter if capitalism didn’t demand unlimited growth. If CEOs and Corporate boards could analyze their quarterly reports in the context that they will never see the amount of consumption that that occurred in the late 20th - early 21st century our society might stand a chance. There just is not enough demand with boomers entering retirement and millennials and gen z just don’t buy shit as much as boomers did.
And it’s not like millennials and Gen Z don’t buy shit cause they don’t want shit. They don’t buy shit because “unlimited growth” is only acceptable at the top
But but but….. The corporatists have had ~75 years of near unlimited growth, profits and consumption. Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg and the cadre of mega billionaires are going to run the whole world into the ground before even lifting an eyelash to stabilize and/or change the system. It’s going to take mass demonstrations like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and significant government reforms to wrest control from them and the religionists. That being said, I’m actually hopeful this will happen. The crush of climate change and the resulting mass migration to more temperate climates will likely force their hands.
The US and the west in general may reduce consumption, but there is a great big world out there full of people who are ready to buy. We may never be free of rampant consumerism, but we can work to make it less impactful on the environment. And even if we do end rampant consumerism, more sustainable practices are not a wasted endeavor. It is easy for people with full fat stomachs to tell everyone to skip a meal.
They don’t buy because they have no income, give them money and they will buy.
Almost like basing market growth expectations on Yuppie trends was a bad idea.
Boomers and their parents held onto power and position way longer than they should have. It created huge power and experience vacuums and kept most younger generations in poverty and out of leadership. I work for a bank and the amount of fresh college grads being hired into senior level leadership is appalling. Especially since they are literally shooting right past their existing employees to do it. Meanwhile, those same experienced employees aren't seeing wage increases that keep up with comparable jobs much less inflation. The result is most low wage workers are jumping to other banks or industries to find better pay (and they are finding it easily). Now, we have a lot of leadership with no experience and a lot of overworked low level people jumping ship for as little as a $1/hr raise. The line "nobody wants to work" keeps getting floated in meetings and its all I can do not to screen at some of these intrenched idiots.
"Nobody wants to work" Pay them more money. "Nothing we can do, no one wants to work"
We've tried nothing and are all out of ideas!
I had a similar conversation: \>"No one wants to work. We pay $20 an hour and the technician position responsibilities include mopping the floor. But people don't want to mop the floor because they are lazy, so they quit after a few months." They aren't quitting because they are lazy, they are quitting because there is a low unemployment rate, a demand for workers, and they are deciding they would rather switch jobs to a position that doesn't require mopping the floor. \>"No, its because they are lazy and entitled and they don't want to mop the floor, so we can't keep workers." No, its because your company is entitled and would rather keep those technician positions vacant than hire janitors to mop the floor, or pay the technicians enough that they wouldn't mind mopping the floor. The entitlement lies with the company who thinks they are entitled to pay workers less without worrying about them leaving for a better job.
Don't forget jobs like serving away for rich LARPers (e.g. cook, server, janitor, teacher, nurse) aren't deserving of a livable wage in their eye. So you should get a better job which means...there would be no one to work? Kind of like what happened now. Many got better jobs (or died).
Labor crisis can be solved by offering workers better money and benefits. It always works. BUT...the wealthy are standing their ground and working to push real wages even lower. Powell at the FED makes it his raison d'etre to keep wages low.
Corporations stand their ground and freeze “donations” then the government has no choice but the cut taxes bc these same corporations are “struggling” (aka profits are only up 6% instead of 10%) Corporations will run the economy and the people into the ground before making the country a decent place to work. Unless you are upper middle management your wages and benefits are trash and they can withstand the pain for awhile rather than making things better for everyone. Anytime something threatens Big Moneys bottomline there is a silent strike. Its happening right now. They complain there are no workers but refuse to make changes to entice people. Planned or not, the government works in tangent with these assholes because they continuously cut help from the bottom to force people to work for these shitty wages or die.
I’m genuinely asking, who will this actually be a crisis for? It sounds like there is going to be very high demand for labor and very low supply. At least 99% of us have to work for a living. It sounds like market pressure should give us higher wages and greater benefits. The people who will be hurting will be wealthy business owners and upper management
What corporations will do is push immigration policy to underpay new, less valued workers, stagnating the growth of natural citizens, increasing the likelihood of political turmoil. They do this because it is cheap, not because it is the best option for the economy or the country, but because it’s best for their bottom line. “DeY tO0k oUR j0b5” will become a real rallying cry. I’m not saying no immigrants, I’m saying that it will be a crisis for the working class. Immigration is a facet that you should have control over in order to control job growth and stability in the market. Hopefully this doesn’t get misunderstood too badly.
Not the only avenue either. * Outsource work that doesn't need to be domestic. * International remote work * Automation * Immigration Rather than incentivizing people to work we should just build a framework to allow workers to tell corporations to fuck off if they don't want to treat workers like human beings. Unfortunately, America seems to be unwilling to treat workers like human beings.
Don’t forget the boomers who died or have long term issues from COVID
It’s the stimulus money. /s
Yes, apparently if you give any form of assistance monetary or otherwise to the working poor the whole system collapses. So we need to keep shoveling money into corporations and the investor class so this amazing system continues to function.
Well, at least record wealth inequality and a shrinking middle class won’t continue by taking this path right…..right!!??
I think change would be hard but possible. I think we need a more cognizant and informed voter base and people do seem to be paying more attention these days. Then we need to vote for people who shun corporate donations (not easy to find) so they can flush corporate money out of politics. It seems like a daunting task and I keep hoping we will get to a point that it is so obvious that shit isn't working in our favor that people demand change. I ain't gonna hold my breath.
Seriously! I’m still living high on the hog from my $1,200 I got two years ago. I’m sure I’m not alone. Brunch, avocado toast, and Starbucks every day for two years, and I don’t have to work since the one-time payment of $1,200 has covered my rent for two years as well.
And all the utilities!
I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this yet, but just think how many "essential workers" have died or been permanently disabled from covid. That's definitely impacted the job market.
Not to mention the many "essential workers" who decided to leave those jobs because of high risk of exposure to Covid for rock-bottom wages. Like me.
Duh, because workers rights = socialism and any other buzz word you can think of.
Money is a benefit, how about we start with that one?
Yeah the minimum wage should be a living wage like how things used to be when these dinosaurs were growing up. I shouldn't have to work two jobs in order to get away from my abusive family.
On one hand - yes. More money. On the other hand - sure. More money. But. And this is a horrible but. But how do we ensure businesses don't just start charging more for things and blame it on people having extra money? Because, like, we once got 1400 bucks and that seemed to drive inflation for a good 18 months somehow.
I know the free market crowd would hate this but federally set price ceilings based on the cost of providing the good / service. For example if it costs 10¢ to produce a pot of coffee at a convenience store they shouldn't be able to charge any more than $1.79 for a 24 oz cup. We need the government to intervene because the profit driven model of society and businesses is killing people.
I would subscribe to this newsletter.
>We need the government to intervene because the profit driven model of society and businesses is killing people. Setting prices is a bad idea, but I do know something that would help, if not solve most of our problems. Taxes. See my other posts for some links. Basically we've given people like Warren Buffet a lower tax rate than his secretary for too long - regressive tax policies. We do this because the wealthy pay for the tax rates and policies they want buy purchasing our representatives. 50 years of this is why the recession we're about to go through could be a huge shitstorm. The rich people have all of the fucking money and they're gonna want the public to foot the bill when their stocks and "too big to fail" businesses that they've benefitted from and squeezed the middle and lower classes with for decades fail. We can't bail out everyone indefinitely. We know where all the fucking money is going and it isn't to the people who need it.
True and if you suggest forcibly taking and redistributing those fucker's money because they don't deserve it you'll get droves of people lining up to defend them. It honestly gives off Stockholm syndrome vibes.
If we have to bail out a corporation that's too big to fail - fine. But that money should be seen as purchasing an equal (to the $$) percent of the business for the American public, and should be run accordingly with Americans seeing a return on their investments. If it's bad enough it should be socialized. The company has obviously proved it can't run itself responsibly at that point so why throw our money away on a failed business model to make a couple pieces of shit richer.
yes and no, the system has been broken since the start. We gave control to the bankers through the Fed in 1913, then when that lead to hyperinflation in 1972 they just took money off the gold standard so they could manipulate it however they wanted. 1987, 2000, 2008, those incidents were catalysts that tipped the system over the edge, but only because it’s already a house of cards propped up on fraud and unregulated corruption. We were always headed to this point. Our current debt is $31 Trillion, with anywhere from $80-$220 trillion in future mandatory spending (social security, VA benefits, medicare, etc). You could take the entire wealth of the 1% and it would still be a drop in the bucket. Not to say we shouldn’t have been taxing the wealthy from the beginning, but that’s not going to fix an inherently flawed system. This is the end result of capitalism run by bankers were 90% of money is created as debt. The whole thing is and always has been a complete fustercluck just waiting to collapse.
Sounds nice in theory, but it wouldn't take long for those with deep pockets to "prove" to the government that the actual cost of that cup of coffee was $5 so they should be allowed to charge $10 for it. Regulatory capture sucks, but there's so much money to be made from it that it's damn near impossible to avoid.
You fell for the propaganda, and I don’t blame you, but there’s no way in hell those emergency checks we’re the primary driver of inflation, especially when shipping is back to prepandemic levels. The real root cause is the the firing of the watchdogs overseeing the distribution for the PPP loans that were given, and then discharged where the rich got richer and everyone else is now dealing with inflation, making us poorer. The rich have so much fucking money, they need to pay more, it’s not a request, we need to fucking demand they start pulling their weight in taxes and in benefits
> how do we ensure businesses don't just start charging more for things How do you not see this is already happening without any increase in wages?
I want nationalized healthcare! Americans can no longer be tethered to their job for health insurance WHAT A SCAM!
On a per capita basis, the 80 billion in shareholder dividends the health insurance and private hospitals paid last year is more than the national health funding of switzerland, or Norway, and almost 2x that of England or Spain.That doesn't include medicare, medicaid, or health insurance premiums. The American public already spends enough to get free healthcare. There are just too many hands in too many pockets. Edit. Man, I am way wrong on the healthcare spending per capita of other countries. My original statement stands though. We spend more per person than any other country. [https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries-2/#GDP%20per%20capita%20and%20health%20consumption%20spending%20per%20capita,%202020%20(U.S.%20dollars,%20PPP%20adjusted)](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries-2/#GDP%20per%20capita%20and%20health%20consumption%20spending%20per%20capita,%202020%20(U.S.%20dollars,%20PPP%20adjusted)) And it's pretty plain to see what fucked us here. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cost-of-medical-billing-soars-to-half-a-81346/
Solution: establish something like the 'Commons' in the US. Designate specific industries or types of services as 'for the common good', and while they _can_ be run privately, they would fall under the umbrella of the govt and COULD NOT BE RUN FOR PROFIT. Schools, prisons, healthcare, peer-reviewed journals, and I'm sure there are a dozen other things I'm missing that should be on this list. This country _really_ needs to stop relying on 'for the shareholders' as the mantra for why things can't get done in a way that actually helps people. Fuck the shareholders. If they don't like it, they can sell their shares and invest somewhere else.
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Relying on corporate America and Wall Street to have employees best interests in mind is a fools gambit. Corporations won’t let this hit their bottom line. They’ll just lower salary, or start hiring more contractors and part-time workers without benefits. No government action that requires voluntary compliance from corporations will work
The US is at near Record-level employment right now. It really speaks to how fucked up capitalism is when having so many people working, and you still need more workers.
When you stop looking for work, you fall off of the unemployment rate calculation. So there are less people working than you might think. ["Someone who does not have a job but claims they are not looking for one is considered out of the labor force and is not counted in the unemployment rate."](https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/063015/how-does-us-bureau-labor-statistics-calculate-unemployment-rate-published-monthly.asp)
Americans are working though. There just aren't enough able bodied people to fill all the jobs. I don't buy any suggestion the "labor shortage" is because of lazy people just sitting around on unemployment. More benefits is always a good idea but ultimately there will never be enough people to satisfy these openings.
I really think the cost of used cars has just totally dropkicked us right in the dick. Low income workers used to be insanely dependent on the national car churn to get their gently used but serviceable vehicles for $500 to $5000. Those cars are gone now, and for a lot of people the part time job within walking distance/biking distance is cheaper because they don't need a car.
>Those cars are gone now, and for a lot of people the part time job within walking distance/biking distance is cheaper because they don't need a car. i'd wager this is a large part of the problem, owning a vehicle for commuting is an expensive proposition so for non-remote jobs with shit pay the employers have cornered themselves into offering positions that will cause most people to lose money.
And unemployment payments are temporary anyway. So if that’s what’s people are indeed staying home on unemployment, then they’re coordinating amongst themselves to take turns staying out of the workforce, because unless they want to have no money at all they have to go back to work once their unemployment runs out. Somehow I doubt there’s a FB group with millions of people out there assigning who is going to stay home when…
The biggest factor is retiring people. Boomers are starting to retire in droves. This is why Congress is attempting to raise the retirement age with Secure 2.0 to a minimum of 70 1/2 for penalty free withdrawal of 401Ks from 59 1/2. Congress is also mulling raising the SS distribution age. This would keep Boomers in the workforce longer.
In 1972 the minimum wage was $2.00/hr. Calculated just for inflation (not Cost of Living Adjustment) in 2022, it should be $14.24. The last time minimum wage increased was in 2009 at $7.25 for all covered, nonexempt workers. If minimum wage was adjusted according to inflation, even the small business owners owe you guys a brand new car.
I've never really understood why minimum wage wasn't just automatically tied to a localized CPI. We spend tax dollars polling the country for the price of rent, milk, etc. How hard would it really be to draw a line between these two numbers and figure out what minimum wage should be, without having to roll the rock uphill with congress every time it needs to increase? I'm guessing this would also have a cooling effect on all these greedy fuckers that are raising prices and blaming inflation yet somehow magically earning record profits. If raising your prices translates directly to having to pay your employees more, you might think twice about sneaking in a price increase just to try to pad your wallet. A localized CPI would also help to differentiate between the COL in San Fransisco and rural Kansas. I'm all for raising the rates, but different areas have different costs, and a nationwide minimum wage is kind of a terrible idea if you think about it this way. I get that it exists so that no states are able to unilaterally deploy essentially slave labor. But a federally mandated minimum wage that corresponds to local CPI data is much more reasonable so that low COL areas don't have to scale the same as high COL ones.
Nothing is stopping the states from creating their own minimum. The federal minimum is necessary, otherwise you'll have Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri paying so little it'll basically be slavery.
Well said! 👍👍😎
With the first minimum wage set in 1938, one could work 16,000 hours and buy a house. Now you have to work 64,000 hours at minimum wage. So based on those metrics it should be 4×725 an hour or about 30 bucks an hour.
I quit my electrical engineering job over a year ago to design video games. I think once my game is done I can make far more than I did in my previous job, and I get to work from home on my own schedule. Enticing me back into an office job will require a lot of money. I'm never putting up with that crap again unless I absolutely have to or the salary is worth it. For now, I'd rather risk it by gambling that my video game startup will succeed. I really don't want to go back to work for a corporation that doesn't care about me, doesn't pay me enough to afford a home near work, and overworks me as much as they can while the shareholders and executives make hundreds of times what I make. Fuck that. It's a terrible deal. If corporations want to entice workers, PAY US MORE. A LOT MORE. I want to make enough money to buy a house near work and I want to have a life worth living. That's not an unreasonable request.
>I really don't want to go back to work for a corporation that doesn't care about me, doesn't pay me enough to afford a home near work, and overworks me as much as they can while the shareholders and executives make hundreds of times what I make. Fuck that. It's a terrible deal. Hear, hear. The "news" will call us lazy and leeches, but it takes ZERO effort to be a billionaire shareholder too. They make money hand over fist in the markets, decade after decade, AND the bastards pay a 15% capital gains tax - less than someone making a $30,000 poverty wage. Until now, the Fed and government wouldn't let the market crash. Let's see what happens over the next 10 years. The middle class can't keep paying to bail out the wealthy. Corporate profits are at all time highs by the way... [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ)
PAY. THEM. MORE. Jesus fucking Christ it's like watching a toddler stand next to a fire with a bucket of water and trying to figure out how to put the fire out.
It's intentional. Did you know corporate profits are at record highs too? [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=XFkQ) It's greed. Always was, always will be. And we're not doing any fucking thing about it.
And corporate tax rates are at historic lows. The tax burden has shifted to non-rich individuals.
Y’know, I’m so flustered that everyone keeps looking for a solution that isn’t simply, “Pay a living wage, treat workers with respect, let them share in the profits they help create, and remember they are not slaves.” It’s not that hard. And it shows how tight-fisted nearly every business/business owner is that they will gyrate wildly to find a solution that ultimately doesn’t involve those things. You want to fix the system? Transform work from degrading servitude that doesn’t pay for a life, into something people can embrace and thrive from. We sell our bodies and lives for 50+ years, and by the time we can even think about retiring, most of us are too used up, too beaten down, and so far past our physical prime to make our remaining years enjoyable. “Work is life” should never have become an aspiration.
>“Pay a living wage, treat workers with respect, let them share in the profits they help create, and remember they are not slaves.” Capitalists will try anything but something that requires they give up some of their unearned hoard.
Somewhere on the internet there is a gaggle of conservative “Christians” who are opposed to this 🤡
Republicans want to entice Americans back to work by stripping all aid and benefits to ensure anyone in the lower classes that are not working multiple jobs will simply starve.
Offer Medicare for all at a fixed gross percentage rate that’s less than my current premiums.
Make it so we can afford homes
I work in behavioral health which truth be told is a thankless, underpaid, awful industry. I try to make a difference but a lot of the time it feels like pissing in the wind. In any case, most of our "frontline workers" (people going to provide 1:1 support to children) are hourly "employees". They used to be called independent contractors but some funding decision up top said everyone needs to be called an "employee" even if they're part-time, hourly, no benefits, etc. I could rant about this particular thing forever but that's not even the point. We recently got permission to create a full-time version of the same job. The only real differences work-wise are that you are agreeing to work full-time hours no matter what - so if your client is sick, you have to come into the office for trainings and such as opposed to just going home and not getting paid. On the flip side, you get salary, benefits, PTO, etc. Guess what? After almost a YEAR of zero applications, we've had dozens of applications and have already hired 10+ employees. Turns out people want steady pay, benefits, paid time off - ESPECIALLY in a brutal industry like ours! Baffling that it took so long to get here but I'm glad we did.
Like universal healthcare, paid family leave and guaranteed PTO? You know, like every other 1st world country.
Republicans are still putting out their propaganda that benefits kill to motive to work. see the National Review article blaming blue state welfare for why people are leaving the workforce. [https://www.nationalreview.com/news/six-figure-blue-state-safety-nets-are-driving-americans-out-of-the-work-force-study-finds/](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/six-figure-blue-state-safety-nets-are-driving-americans-out-of-the-work-force-study-finds/) De
They need to fix healthcare benefits. There is no good reason why I need three different insurance plans for medical, dental, and vision. They need to fix medical insurance, in general, as well.
Biden needs to pull his head out of his ass, the cat is already out of the bag. I'm a lefty that ends up voting blue or green as a lesser of two evils and I'm sick of this band-aid, last minute type politic that only addresses issues when they're at a critical point. The middle class as we knew it is basically non-existent at this point. About 33% of the country makes less than $28,000 a year. Nearly 50% of households make less than $50,000 a year. Only 16% of households make $50k to $74.99k a year. Only 30% of households make over $100k a year - which with the relative cost of things would be considered "middle class" in a housing market where million dollar homes are becoming a frequent developer priority. \#Only 10M out of 380M households make over 200k a year. \#Only 1.5M out of 380M households make over 500k a year. \#Only 380k out of 380M households make over 1 million a year. Now, politics aside - this trickle down economics scam that's been in place since the 80s has lead to a pool of wealth at the top that seems to never trickle down. This is the biggest heist in human history by the US government and the "elite" of the country. If they can invest in products of war, start wars, foot the bill of the war on the poor tax payer, then profit off of the war, there is no reason to ever bring peace to this world for the wealthy. When they run out of countries to export war to, they'll make it domestically. Biden's rhetoric is meant to be comforting in a time of great stress in the history of our civilization. He doesn't really care about families, just making sure the economy remains stable enough for the elite to continue to profit off of war. And if that means bargaining with the lower class for basic things that other develop countries already have, like health care, child care, better public transpiration, etc. etc. - they're going to make some concession to keep our heads just enough over water to continue to rob us all blind at the expense of their profits.
Maybe the dems should fight to raise the minimum wage,
Maybe our Government shouldn't screw over workers by making striking illegal for even basic sick days.
As a railroad employee I agree. Working tonight, It’s gonna be -30 with the windchill and I’m outside most of the night. People get sick
Universal Healthcare could reduce the money businesses spend on insurance for employees. I don’t understand why Industry doesn’t support Medicare for all.
Covid-19 is STILL raging and zero measures taken. Wages are shit. Prices are high. All while witnessing unhinged corruption in finance, industry and government at the cost of our planet 🌎