top | item 20831796

(no title)

pequalsnp | 6 years ago

The problem that arises is that if you artificially inflate someone's wages to an arbitrary number like 21/hr, they might not provide enough value to economically justify the wage level they're set at.

It's not, and shouldn't be, an emotional argument. It's an economical one.

discuss

order

morvita|6 years ago

Frankly, I don't care about any economic argument that says people shouldn't have the ability to put food on their table, a roof over their head, and have decent healthcare. Any company that cannot be profitable and pay their employees enough to cover basic needs shouldn't exist as a company.

dymk|6 years ago

They can go find a different job that pays more. Uber driving is not skilled labor. How it’s justified as a 21/hr job I don’t understand.

malandrew|6 years ago

> Any company that cannot be profitable and pay their employees enough to cover basic needs shouldn't exist as a company.

There are many ways to cover your basic needs that don't require you to live on your own in a one-bedroom apartment and three square meals a day. In fact, most of humanity survived by pooling resources. The ability to live entirely on your own being common is a very recent phenomena as is three square meals a day.

All your stating is that people shouldn't have options where they can pool resources. As someone supporting two older adults in my household, you're saying that if they can't get hold a livable wage jobs (unlikely given that one has Parkinson's) but still still could earn money and contribute to the household. You've not made my circumstances harder by legislating away opportunities for them to contribute.

scarface74|6 years ago

Why should a company be responsible for healthcare? It’s not the case anywhere else in the world?

behringer|6 years ago

The CEO of walmart most certainly isn't worth 22 million/year. If you can't bring in 21/hour as a cab driver you probably shouldn't be driving cab, especially considering you should be pulling in, what, well over 100/hr gross?

pequalsnp|6 years ago

What evidence do you have that the CEO doesn't bring that much in value to Walmart?

smileysteve|6 years ago

The economic argument however, also includes taxes, the welfare state, etc;

If a job pays less than the cost of living in an area, then the job is somewhere between subsidized by the government or not economically viable.