Originally Posted by
Daly
What should the minimum wage be?
Should it be high enough that an adult can have a nice place by themselves and in the process shut out teenagers and people looking for part time work?
Should it be low enough so that it makes teenagers and other low skilled entry level workforce employees affordable enough to make some money and learn skillsbutnot afford to live on their own?
I've thought for some time there should be two minimums.
This either or argument just doesn’t hold water with me. In Massachusetts the minimum wage is $11. I can still go to McDonalds and buy a triple cheeseburger for $3. They still have almost free food.
I was shocked recently to see California’s minimum wage was only $7.50. They must clear $5 after taxes and shit. That’s ridiculous. Im going to work an hour for a gallon of milk? Druff references social programs to supplement the shortfall. Just pay a living wage and fuck government.
People don't want to acknowledge the role played by accident in their lives. Luck. What family you were born to. How well you were raised. What luck genetics had with your intelligence and health - especially mental health.
Don't be deceived by life's outcomes. Life's outcomes, while not entirely random, have a huge amount of luck baked into them. Above all, recognize that you have had success, you have also had luck. And with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your gods.
You owe a debt to the unlucky.
There used to be a thing in the US called Nobless Oblige. The inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged. The nobility in England often recognized they just luckboxed by birth enormous privilege and wealth. They would be inclined to act charitably.
There is this idea now that because I make millions of dollars doing something that didn’t used to pay nearly as much, like investment banking, I somehow “earned it” and others have the same opportunity so fuck em.
Years ago kids went to a Harvard because their parents went to Harvard. Not because they got an 800 on their SAT. Back then I think people were more inclined to nobless oblige.
Druff’s original reply to limitles’s first post pissed me off. However, later posts remind me he does give back. The best example is Scalir. I am sure he does more.
My message is that luck plays an enormous role in life. Luck and randomness play a huge role in everyday and world events. Sorry to dispel those conspiracy theories. There is bad luck too. People with less good fortune who labor with handicaps - emotional, intelligence and physicical. Guys who had less opportunity.
Pay them a living wage. Help them find some kind of work. Be generous personally and distrust government’s ability to succeed with assistance.
Finally, California is a shithole and fail. Of course there are tent cities in Cali and not Mass. Is Cali just too large to be run effectively? Are people there just assholes? Incredible the minimum wage is so low in an otherwise socialist state. Truly a fail.