Prepare for a rant because Ive had it with people saying fast food workers who are picketing for higher wages are asking for hand outs. Here is a little research for all you ignorant people. The Fair Labor Act was passed in October of 1938 giving workers a .25 minimum wage. That was 42 years after the first minimum wages were passed in New Zealand. When these laws were passed Franklin D. Roosevelt said No business which depends for existence on paying their employees less than living wages deserves to exist in this country In 1938 the average home cost a little over twice the annual income of $1,731.00 a year at roughly $3,900 to buy a home. A new car cost nearly $900, average rent was about $27 a month, milk was $0.50 a gallon, bacon was $0.32 a pound, and eggs were $0.18 a dozen. Milk has risen to nearly $1.30 a gallon, and eggs are about $2.30 a dozen now. The average car is now $32,086 according to kbb and only one place in the entire U.S. can afford that cost on a middle class income thats in Washington D.C., average sales prices of homes last year was $311,400 or about 7 times the average income rated at $44,331 annually. A new car now costs approximately 75% of a persons yearly income not the less than 50% that our grand parents dealt with in the 40s. Average cost of rent in Denver rose $63 just this year alone which stands to be roughly a 6.3% gain. However minimum wage has been set at $9.50 at its highest in this Nation. If minimum wage were to reflect inflation as it should it would be roughly $10.50 an hour. Or nearly $3.00 per hour over Colorados minimum wage. The federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 or $3.25 per hour (before taxes) less than it would be If it followed inflation. When you consider that adds up to about $130 a week in pay before taxes Im pretty sure thats a wide margin and a chunk of money that would help anyone to survive better. I may not support these people making $15 an hour but asking for that much allows our government or the employers room to negotiate to a more reasonable rate closer to $10.50 an hour. Figures for 2013 show that roughly 60% of welfare or food stamps recipients were working last year. So only 40% of our benefits go to people who would rather live off the government or are unable to work. The average welfare benefit for a single person household is about $200 or ya know $70 more than the $130 this new minimum wage would provide. So for all you people pissing and moaning that these people dont deserve these benefits consider that a lot of these people currently live off the government rather than wages paid by employers which brings me back to FDRS quote. Businesses are collecting millions of dollars knowing full well their workers are not making enough to pay their bills and feeding themselves. Essentially these rich few are forcing people to seek government aid rather than cutting into their ridiculous profit margins to pay a liveable wage. So if you ask me these people picketing are taking it upon themselves to better pay across the board and to help our entire country by trying to eliminate the 60% of government aid recipients that are trying to work to live. Im sorry but its people who fight these things rather than stop to look into the facts and join the cause that allow our country to fall into ruin watching as millions of people cant afford to feed and cloth themselves because they were never in a position to go to college or go to training programs to better themselves.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 14:29:13 +0000