It’s Getting Harder To Move Beyond A Minimum-Wage Job

[101A]

If you are against raising the minimum wage, then you accept, at least implicitly, taxpayers bailing out minimum wage employers.

what's the point of spending money on training if the grads, many of them w/o HS diploma or with a useless HSD (being still illiterate, innumerate) go into a market where they still face unlivable wages?

btw, the graduation rates at 2-year Alamo colleges group is dismal, like well under 50%.

And many of the grads find their associate degrees and credits are not accepted at even state 4-year colleges.

I specifically mentioned trades. I am using Germany (and common sense) as a model. My wife taught at ACCD for a couple of years before we moved to Pa; yeah. No.

I had other suggestions. My point is, work needs to be valuable because it is valuable work. Otherwise were just moving pieces around. We need the economy to grow, not just rearrange. More people need to see a way out and up; handouts, or artificial wage inflation don't do that.

Again, government can (must) have a significant hand in getting this going - but just arbitrarily setting a higher wage isn't going to help the systemic problem that Nono helped spell out. We can't compete with non-skilled, low wage employees overseas, or coming across our borders in terms of low, or no skill, jobs. We need more higher skilled workers with more higher skilled jobs for them to have.

[ElNono]

We are trying, and succeeding, so far.

We do too

[boutons_deux]

"work needs to be valuable because it is valuable work"

People are much more important than ing ty work.

The dignity of a liveable salary far outweighs the work itself.

It's on businesses to provide jobs that don't grind people down.

[101A]

"work needs to be valuable because it is valuable work"

People are much more important than ing ty work.

The dignity of a liveable salary far outweighs the work itself.

It's on businesses to provide jobs that don't grind people down.

Nobody's stopping you.

Start one.

[RandomGuy]

What's going on with the economy? Markets OK, unemployment low, but barely better than recession growth? Not rhetorical questions, btw. Serious.

We have an aging population driving a lot of current trends.

Spending profiles of retirees tend to be different than that of people in their 40's buying houses/cars etc. Less demand for stuff. Bad for importers/retailers.

That said, we have a current wavelet of millennials coming into the job/labor market. More millenials than boomers now from what I hear. They are pushing back marriage/kids due to financial crisis and general at ude shifts. This will mean tapering off of demand a bit, but the giant sucking sound of boomers exiting the labor market into retirement will help them along, as it has helped me and my fellow gen Xers who are well positioned to step into those choice jobs.

Heard one analyst with some investment firm or other on the radio sum it up:

Slow growth environment will be with us for a long while.

US will limp along doing pretty much ok. Americans are saving more, which is, IMO a good thing. We appear to be collectively paying down debt, and at some point we will have done that to most people's satisfaction, and they will start spending more. Guess 1-5 years or so, then expect consumers to open their wallets, and push growth a bit faster.

We have a flood of FDI incoming as China slows down, which is driving a lot of slowness elsewhere, as they cut back on their commodities binge. This will make capital cheap for US firms.

Americans are not building as many homes as we are having kids, so there is beginning to be a pent-up demand for housing. Great for me, as that is upwards pressure on house prices and I just bought my first house.

Stock market looks to be going sideways for a while, due to a lot of investor uncertainty. Good time to pick up dividend stocks, IMO, something else I am doing this year.

Let's see if I missed anything... Europe will benefit overall from the influx of migrants, but that will take a good 5-10 years to fully take shape.

China's fast growth period is behind it. They will have to face the fact that their labor market, while still massive, is shrinking, and their air is killing them, the costs of which are going to unwind and drag that economy down much more than I think many fully appreciate yet.


erg. Probably missed something...

Deadpool movie made back its budget in the opening weekend.... funny movie.

[RandomGuy]

What's going on with the economy? Markets OK, unemployment low, but barely better than recession growth? Not rhetorical questions, btw. Serious.

We have an aging population driving a lot of current trends.

Spending profiles of retirees tend to be different than that of people in their 40's buying houses/cars etc.

That said, we have a current wavelet of millennials coming into the job/labor market.

Heard one analyst with some investment firm or other on the radio sum it up:

Slow growth environment will be with us for a long while.

US will limp along doing pretty much ok. Americans are saving more, which is, IMO a good thing. We appear to be collectively paying down debt, and at some point we will have done that to most people's satisfaction, and they will start spending more.

We have a flood of FDI incoming as China slows down, which is driving a lot of slowness elsewhere, as they cut back on their commodities binge.

Americans are not building as many homes as we are having kids, so there is beginning to be a pent-up demand for housing. Great for me, as that is upwards pressure on house prices and I just bought my first house.

Stock market looks to be going sideways for a while, due to a lot of investor uncertainty. Good time to pick up dividend stocks, IMO, something else I am doing this year.

Let's see if I missed anything... Europe will benefit overall from the influx of migrants, but that will take a good 5-10 years to fully take shape.

China's fast growth period is behind it. They will have to face the fact that their labor market, while still massive, is shrinking, and their air is killing them, the costs of which are going to unwind and drag that economy down much more than I think many fully appreciate yet.


erg. Probably missed something...

Deadpool movie made back its budget in the opening weekend.... funny movie.

[RandomGuy]

RG has pointed out that the result of this is inflation. That being the case, what's the point. The value of a person's work is its value, regardless of what number you attach to it. That value is only worth so much in purchasing power. The only way to escape this truism, and the market adjusting for whatever artificial forces are applied, is to ditch the markets altogether. Point to the Netherlands, maybe? They still have a "market" economy, but with a larger safety net, a higher minimum wage, right? Poverty rate there is roughly equivalent as it is here ~14%. Weird.

Depends on how "poverty" is measured and defined.

I would be willing to be being poor in the Netherlands is better than being poor in the US, and their poor are far healthier.

[boutons_deux]

" Americans are saving more, which is, IMO a good thing. We appear to be collectively paying down debt"

bull , HH CC debt is $15K: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/average-credit-card-debt-household/

... meaning people are paying high to usurious rates of CC interest to BigFinanace, aka redistribution upwards.

[boutons_deux]

poor in the Netherlands is better than being poor in the US, and their poor are far healthier.

How America's Superrich Are Draining the Poor of a Longer Life Span

http://www.alternet.org/economy/how-americas-superrich-are-draining-poor-longer-life-span

[Winehole23]

lest it be said that wages are too sticky, the gig economy provides downward opportunities:

https://www.workingwa.org/instacart-eighty-cents

[FrostKing]

If you want more money you need to become more attractive to employers. What can you personally offer over the next person? This is usually done by picking up technical knowledge I.E. take courses at the local college and/or get certified

The problem is finding time to do this while still paying bills. Americans make poor decisions - take on car payments, have children when not financially set, get pets. Seriously what is with Americans obsession with dogs.

I worked dead end jobs and it was full of single parents and wannabe high rollers that picked up hours then bought then had to get a 2nd job to pay for the they bought

Those well off European nations that everyone raves about - they are renters not buyers. To them flexibility is King.

[boutons_deux]

In San Antonio, Uber/Lyft pays drivers $0.60 / mile while some orgs compute TCO as $0.60 and IRS 2019 deductible is $0.54.

So net, taxable income for U/L driving is $0.10 / mile or less, then minus income tax and 2 x SS fee as self-employed.

For rider fare of $10 or less (which about avg for SA), U/L keep minimum of $4 / 40% or more.