Fighting for $15

I posed the following question on Facebook... but I feel like it deserves to be blogged?

Reading about the demand for $15 minimum wage. Wondering if they shouldn't do $15 for age 18 and up and $10 - 12 for under 18, and for training situations in starter type jobs.
Of course then they would also have to legislate percentages like 25-40% under age so they wouldn't just fire all the adults and hire kids.
Would that settle the argument of inexperienced kids? And also encourage jobs for teens again, which have been hard to come by?

Since I posed the question, I have only received one reply (4 by the time I was done typing this).  But I can see the direction it is going.  People think raising the minimum wage will raise prices, and so that won't change anything.  At face value, I can see that happening... it is simple math after all, but any company who just raises prices to raise wages, is perhaps being too simplistic about it.

Just this week, a Seattle Business workers raised all of his workers wages to a minimum of $70,000 a year.  That is the equivalent of over $30 an hour, if they work 40 hours a year... they will all surely work more... just because.  To make this work, he did not raise prices. He did not cut benefits.  He dropped his own salary from a million a year to $70,000.  Now, I am gathering that he has some serious money in the back... because that's just nuts.  I would however, consider cutting my million dollar salary to a half million, because, there's just only so much stuff I can buy in a year.  I can't wait to see how this experiment plays out.  I gather he will get bonus and profit share, but it is a smart move because my guess is that he will end up richer, and his company will do very well because he invested in his workers first.

What would happen if the Walton Family for instance took a billion or so out of the bank and split that among their workers?  That have at least 144 Billion, after all. How many billions would it take to give everyone a $5.00 and hour increase? I doubt it would slow down their personal shopping habits at all.  And if they were to just roll the cost over to the shoppers, here's an article that says it would cost shoppers 46 cents per trip to set their minimum wage at $12.00.

But this is not the direction I intended to go.

My concern is that I have two young adult children, who have yet to have a part time job. The problem is not that they are lazy. They have worked 20 hour days for the County Elections, and they have managed to make some money through entrepreneurship. The problem is timing.  During the time when most people get their first jobs, age 15-16, we were in the midst of a serious recession.  All the fast food and retail jobs in my area were taken by adults desperate for whatever wage they could get.  So why would an employer hire and train a kid, when an adult who NEEDED the job could hit the ground working?

That is my biggest concern in raising the minimum wage.  Is someone going to hire someone who has never, ever worked for $15 an hour when they could hire someone with experience?  This is where my question came from.  I wondered if lowering the minimum wage by age or for training periods would fix this issue.

At the end of the day, though, there is just not enough wages for people to live independent lives.  They can hardly pay rent, and buy food, never mind purchase clothing, purses, shoes, games, and go to the movies.  Has anyone noticed the rate at which malls are failing? I feel like raising the minimum wage, would allow people more expendable income, which will help them pay their bills and perhaps spend a few dollars on things they would enjoy.  That would bring back dying retail establishments, and more people would get hired, and more people would be spending, and so on and so forth!

Another thing that bothers me about how low wages are is how much college costs.  I went to college on student loans and retail paychecks.  Period.  The loans paid my tuition, and the my jobs paid my living expenses.  But, kids can't live on these teeny tiny paychecks since the cost of rent has easily tripped since I was a college student.  The cost of transportation has doubled.  And the cost of college... that has increase 1,120% in the last 30 years.  Corporate greed is preventing kids from going to college, because they can no longer work their way through when their parents can't afford to pay.

For me, that is reason enough to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 or to $10-$12 for kid under 18.

Do you agree?  Disagree?  Why?

Getting back to my creative space

I told a friend that I was planning to post and art piece a day again, now that my costuming project is over.  She suggested I include costuming too, so I will post an art piece or costume piece a day.  I hope.

I went to the thrift store yesterday to try to find some items to inspire me to make a costume out of my imagination... I found some things, but I also found some items that I put up on Ebay today because they were good quality and still had tags, except one which just did not need any changes at all.  They are uniform pieces and on Asian costume.  Nice stuff.  here are the links.

(auctions are over)

I am also considering joining an artists association or two.  I think.  We shall see.  I could use the inspiration, but am not quite sure I play well with others.

Until next time.

The problem with passing and failing

In order for a person to have power, he would need some powerless folks to lord over.  Let's look at the relationship between the Medieval Lord and Surf. The serfs worked the land in addition to doing extra work for the for the lords in exchange for food and protection. The land, the wealth, and the army belonged to the Lord. Meanwhile, the Noble Lord death with prayers, politics, and sometimes fighting.  There was often evening entertainment.  Without the work of the serf, the lord would not be able to maintain is more cushy, though often more stressful life.

Bring that to modern day for comparison, and we have the working poor and the filthy rich. Take Walmart for instance. Walmart workers are tied to low skill, low paying jobs, in order to scrape by to keep the family off the streets.  They barely make enough money to accomplish that.  Many Walmart workers are also on government assistance. Meanwhile, Walmart owners, are kabillionaires, making infathomable amounts of money, while refusing to raise the employees to livable wages, because they know there is always some unemployed person who will take the place of the barely making it workers if they complain.  But these Super rich owners, don't have the responsibilities of the Medieval serf.  Things are out of balance.  They longer feel responsibility to the worker, to make sure he is protected with house and supplies. They are only concerned with their own leisure.

And this imbalance starts young and is programmed into the mind of children.  Indulge me for a

Do Black Children Do Better with Black Teachers

New research confirms that black students excel when they are taught by black teachers. Interestingly enough, three years ago, a different study contended that the race of children doesn't matter. The way I see it, each of these statements is true... and also false.

I have observed through personal relationships, and/or just plain observation that a child will be who you set in their mind they will be.  If you tell a child he is stupid, he will act stupid. If you say a child is bad at math, she will continue to be bad at math. Children are very open to suggestion. This is just part of the problem.

I also know, just from dealing with my own kids and observing others, that children will meet the bar you set, and no more. So if you place the bar low, the child will meet it and then coast from that point.  If you keep raising the bar, children will work to meet the bar. Eventually, if you keep raising the bar, they will learn to keep excelling on their own... if you keep lowering the bar to meet