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High-School Bathroom Cleaner: "$15/Hr Salary Will Change Everything"
Presented without comment...
My job is what’s called a “restricted” position — the California education code’s name for specially funded positions that can employ only people who meet certain conditions (they’re from impoverished areas or have disabilities, for example). Restricted workers have a set wage rate, which means I haven’t been able to ask for a raise, and I can’t earn overtime.
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"work is not the hardest part of my life. The hardest part is saying goodbye to my 4-year-old son when he asks me not to go to work again."
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The one thing that hasn’t been good about the job is the pay. When I started 10 years ago, I made $8.65 per hour; now I make $9.85 per hour.
But I just learned that’s going to change. SEIU Local 99, the union that represents me and more than 30,000 other school workers here, just negotiated a new contract that will raise my pay to $15 per hour by 2016. This is a big deal for the 20,000 of us who make the district’s lowest wages and are covered by the raises. It might be an even bigger deal around the rest of the United States, since $15 per hour is the goal of a movement in cities around the country to improve the lives of working people.
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I’m not exactly sure how my life will be at $15 per hour. I’ve never made that much money, and I’ve been doing custodial work since I was 15. I started out while I was still going to school myself, as a part-time custodian at St. Nicholas, a parochial school in the San Fernando Valley. Back then, in 1997, I was making $7.25 an hour. After I graduated from San Fernando High School, the parochial school offered me a permanent position, and I worked there for four years, eventually making $8.50 per hour. Later, I jumped to Van Nuys High.
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So a raise like this won’t just give workers more — it will give the district happier parents.
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Hookers and blow, my friend, hookers and blow!
He likely won't be having to miss quality time with his child.
....he thinks we will make it to 2016!
The world's not gonna end tomorrow bro.
Unless an asteroid blesses us. Take us!
No... robots will start cleaning schools.
The liberal utopia is here. I am going to throw up now, but at least a $15 /hr janitor will clean it up...or not...it's not like these people care about their jobs.
That janitor works 2x harder than the teachers for 1/2 the salary. That is the value of a college degree.
Scrub techs work 2x harder than the nurses for 1/2 the salary. Once again, that is the value of a college degree.
People with college degrees invented, operate and pay for almost everything that enforces their enslavement.
At least they have high self esteem.
If you present a larger debt orifice, you will receive a larger flow. The higher your debt (structured as transfer payments to colleges, mortgages, etc) the higher your salary. Until it isn't.
As a human you have to be a bit empathetic towards those who work so hard for so little. Don't forget that most on here slamming people that don't have college degrees will equally slam the current rigged system that pushes college tuition higher, causing people to take on more debt - because the government's solution to higher education costs is lower interest rates on loans.
The entire system is rigged so don't think you have an easy solution.
This, however, like Obamacare is the wrong solution looking for the right problem. If it's so easy to solve with money, why not just pay everyone a flat million dollars per year, or make everything free. LOL.
A janitor may be precisely the right choice for that person to make in life. I know lots of bankers who probably couldn't be janitors, and can't really bank all that well either.
property taxes?
Consider the source: the Communist Vichy DC Post.
Union Propaganda as nausium. What the article doesn't say, is that this sorry sod is living on food stamps, ADC, and section 8 housing, oh yes and the negative income tax aka child care credit.
His union boss raise will be more than off set by reductions in his "checks." He is NOT living in Cali on that wage
BULL SHIT ARTICLE.
The janitor must be upset with what's going on down at the border then.
The bank manager notices the new clerk is terrible when it comes to counting money and adding up figures.
“Where did you get your financial education?” he asks.
“Yale,” replies the lad. The manager is sure he’s misheard the man, so he asks his question again and the man again responds “Yale.”
That can't be right, thinks the manager. He decides he’s going to check it out online.
“And what's your full name again?” asks the manager.
“Yim Yohnston.”
Even at $15/hr, that's $2,400/mo. Who the fuck can live on $2,400/mo these days? I'll tell you who: poor people.
I am Chumabwamba.
With his acceptance attitude he may well survive longer than those on $100+; who unwilling to do anything else when the future comes knocking on their - sorry, your doors.
The world wouldn't need janitors if the world cleaned up its own mess, and vice versa.
Quite true. Half of the weekly/daily cleaning chores in an average office can be completed by the professional (and less professional) staff themselves with a sacrifice of, say, 25 minutes per week per employee. A janitor's workweek could then be cut down substantially while he retains his original salary, as production hasn't really been affected by such an arrangement because salaried workers never spend *any* of their time behind their desks online, shopping for shoes,.reading gossip or building castles on kandy krush. (/sarc ) In this scenario a janitor can focus his energies on jobs that would really require more expertise, (bathrooms? floors?) which he would probably possess because we assume that he's minimally qualified, right?
Half of the weekly/daily cleaning chores in an average office can be completed by the professional (and less professional) staff themselves with a sacrifice of, say, 25 minutes per week per employee.
Lol now that would be the day. The whole point of having a rigid (but totally non-existent wink wink) class structure is so folks in decent suits aka the makers get to spend their workdays shopping online. Ain't no way they gunna be cleaning toilets!
With Wage Inflation affecting price inflation, will anyone actually have more real income?
No.
The janitor's landlord will know he got a payraise, and therefore his rent will go up accordingly.
I've seen this firsthand when it came to student loans. The solution by the Canadian government to financial squeeze on students was to allow for more debt. What happened when the cap was increased while I was at university? Rents in the city went up accordingly to "soak" up all that extra debt so students remained at the same parity level.
Hmmmm. What is this kandy krush you speak of?
THe system was designed and put into place long before the current crop of graduates were even born.
This post is just bizarre
But everyone goes to college now.
Nobody goes there anymore it is too crowded.
+1 for the yogi berra quote
That's why I'm going back for my degree, never too old to further ones education!
Your spuriouse statement has validity only if you consider the measure of work in joules. University degrees offer the opportunity for one to apply for certain jobs, thereby excluding those without the pre-requisite degree. Statistics indicate that higher education generally translates to higher pay. Many non-degree tradesmen and service technicians make more than nurses and teachers. Salaries of nurses and teachers varies greatly by region and by rural vs. urban environment. The crime currently underway is that the administrators of the hospitals and schools receive their C-suite level salaries and benefits and provide zero va;ue-added services to the students/patients.
I'm not exactly sure how my life will be...
still shitty
actually, any time i've ever done 'menial labor' -- janitorial, mini-mart cashier, washing cars/pumping gas, delivering pizzas' -- i've always cared about my work.
I thought California took like $10 an hour in taxes?
How the hell are people making it on $10 per hour? I mean, maybe in Haiti but California?
Does he get $20 per hour in cheddar and free housing?
I would rather have a cup of coffee with him rather than some investment slug though.
pods
I bet he pulls down more than $20/hour in .gov benefits.
Perhaps more importantly... this article is Exhibit A for the need for qualification tests before anyone is allowed to vote and / or run for office.
Doctors, accountants, lawyers (even hairdressers in some states!) need to demonstrate basic mastery of their craft before practicing it.
So in what bizzarro universe does it make sense to allow anyone off the street to vote or run for office, thereby gaining purview over perhaps billions of taxpayer dollars?
It's a harsh toke, but contrary to what our founding fathers thought, not everyone is created equal. This janitor's ignorance should eliminate all doubt.
Yep, the smart ones have surely helped us out a lot.
Most of the janitors I knew were salt of the earth people, one was my hockey coach. They understood that life was more than your job. And they never got tricked into the "career" meme that so many have. (See Jumbo's comments below about working is ass off for pennies). They all seemed pretty damn happy to be honest.
I hate it how in today's society people have to always keep gaining when it comes to work. Like if they are complacent they will be unhappy (in reality that is true simply because of the structure of most companies). That is just the way the system keeps most running around trying not to fuck something up and keeps us off balance.
I for one have dropped out of the "career" meme and see that my labor is my time, and that is the only thing in life you cannot get back. So I trade some of it for FRNs, but there are limits. I told my boss one day when he talked about only sleeping 2 hours the night before the reality of when it comes to time, I actually make more than he does.
pods
I'm indifferent to others' life choices as long as those choices don't impact me.
I'm quite passionate about "salt-of-the-earth" types, oblivious to the cumulative body of work on the adverse effects of rising minimum wages, controlling policy from both the voter side and the legislator side.
This guy will be replaced by an industrial Roomba mop by 2016.
Someone will need to lube it and restock cleansers on the robot.
If it tries to roll on down to Lowe's or HD for a restock it will get anihilated by a 350lb person in an SUV that is texting, speeding, eating fast food and screaming at its kids all at the same time.
"No... robots will start cleaning schools."
True ! They've been cleaning my house for more than 2 years now, twice a week, for an initial investment of less than 350...
Meet the NEATO guy/gal (IMHO better than the Rumba one) !
http://www.amazon.com/Neato-XV-21-Allergy-Automatic-Cleaner/dp/B007JOJ9Q...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om5rbtudzrg
that means u can add 50% to everything in your local markets and fuel.........we r screwed
Welcome to your new tax bracket that comes with the 50% raise. Oh yeah, you are also no longer eligible for all the EBT, SNAP, child welfare or the host of other "salary compensating" benefits you used to enjoy
SEIU sure managed to give themselves a nice raise though as they get to extract their dues from all those raises.
'taint nothing:
$200,000 Lifeguards to Receive Millions in RetirementPublic outrage over lavish government employee compensation and pensions is becoming more heated as new revelations about excesses seem to crop up every week. The latest: Newport Beach, California, where some lifeguards have compensation packages that exceed $200,000 and where these "civil servants" can retire with lucrative government pensions at age 50.
http://townhall.com/columnists/davidspady/2011/05/08/$200,000_lifeguards_to_receive_millions_in_retirement/page/full
That was back in 2011...probably double that by now.
Jes a little sump'n fer da family, bucko. It's all guvmint money any-how. We'z all gits a little sump'n.
I know a beach attendant, errr Lifeguard. He was a Lt. Lifeguard. He worked two 24-hour shifts a week on the pier. He went staright off the beach and UCLA to the Lifeguards. 30 years and out I believe. pretty sweet, now he can afford to sit on the beach again, or not?
All for the risk of Skin Cancer and Shark bites.
Better than being a cop risking gang shootouts.
If It weren't for the Fed causing inflation his salary would have been adequate for his needs. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize this and will be continually frustrated that his rising hourly wage never translates to better living. I cannot criticize him because I had done the same. Hoping for raises and, when they never paid expenses, got another job. Saving for costly expenditures that continually rose out of reach until I gave up and used credit. It's a trap. I don't even know if understanding this is of any benefit sometimes. There is no way out unless the big reset is realized.
At some point, one needs to understand the system is rigged and unless one is in the .01% working for a wage is a slaves life with no future.
Miffed;-)
I can rememebr growing up a neighbor kid whose Dad was a janitor in a big office building in Chicago. This was only the late 70s, early 80s. The Mom stayed home or worked odd jobs here and there when needed. They had by today's standards a nice old prarrie style bungalow. Also on the block were Carpenters, plumbers, a doctor, a marketing guy and truck driver. Today, that same block is almost all finance related or Fortune 1000 MBA guys working 80 hRS week and so are there wifes, that bungalow been long torn down and replaced by a 5000SF monster with $20,000 property taxes. WTF happened to this country? A custodian used to be able to live nicely along side a doctor, maybe not as big a house, but they respected each other. Now only the parasitic class can afford to have nice things.
I can rememebr growing up a neighbor kid whose Dad was a janitor in a big office building in Chicago. This was only the late 70s, early 80s. The Mom stayed home or worked odd jobs here and there when needed. They had by today's standards a nice old prarrie style bungalow. Also on the block were Carpenters, plumbers, a doctor, a marketing guy and truck driver. Today, that same block is almost all finance related or Fortune 1000 MBA guys working 80 hRS week and so are there wifes, that bungalow been long torn down and replaced by a 5000SF monster with $20,000 property taxes. WTF happened to this country? A custodian used to be able to live nicely along side a doctor, maybe not as big a house, but they respected each other. Now only the parasitic class can afford to have nice things.
Yep, I grew in a neighborhood just like that. My DAd was blue collar and his best friends was the local Dr. and Lawyer
I bussed tables at the golf club for my friends' daddies. Nice bunch a guys...good tippers...when tipping the bus boy was not required.
When I was 14 I was janitor for a buddy's dad's plumbing Co. Vacuum the 3,000 sq ft office, wash the windows. Rode my bike a mile or so down there and happy to do it. Always thought it was a great feeling to do a good job and earn my own money.
A 3000 sq ft office, now that was a successful plumbing company.
That's exactly the problem right there. Point the finger at your boss for not paying you enough, demand that the govt force employers to pay you more. It's all a big distraction, a ruse used to keep people from blaming the right people. Just like back in the 70s with all the 'whip inflation now' bullshit, and how politicians would wear little 'WIN' pins on their suits. Nowadays since "there is no inflation" they have to come up with something else for the boogieman, hence the crying about 'income inequality' when the reality, then as now, is it is govt policy and central bank money printing and deficit financing that are 100% responsible for it, and our moronic citizens of this country cry for govt to fix the problem it created in the first place, all of which was a forgone conclusion once we left the gold standard.
$1.25 paid in pre 1964 silver coin would be worth more than $15. Those that benefit from the current system will not change things willingly.
everytime ive used that arguement with people, all i get is "exactly! minimum wage increases haven't kept up with inflation" which means they clearly don't understand the real problem. The problem isnt minimum wages not being high enough, the problem is our money, and whats been done to it
>There is no way out unless the big reset is realized.
I have been pushing to disengage the thieves' economy on all non-essential functions. TV, smartphones, new cars, etc. You need a roof and heat and food, but we spend a lot just going out to eat/entertainment. Anyway, I think a general boycott might be a good way to force the reset so to speak. You can't make laws forcing us to buy shit without revealing the emperor has no clothes to even the blind.
Remember a few years ago SOPA and GoDaddy? How GoDaddy changed their tune real fast when people started leaving. I think that was a good example of the power of a few dollars spread over many people. Money talks, bullshit walks.
But when $15/hour is the new minimum wage, it will also be the new poverty line.
If it wasn't for the elastic supply of illegals he'd be making 15 bucks an hour by now.
They already have robots for that.
He just thinks he's getting 15 because that is what the liar liberal democrats promised him for his vote.
Stupid is as stupid does.
He's probably one of the guys who was more interested in shocking himself rather than sit there thinking for a whopping 15 minutes.
http://www.infowars.com/study-left-alone-with-their-thoughts-people-choo...
That's sad but you can't entirely blame the individual. Daydreaming is right up there with misbehaving. These units were unfortunately programmed at the factory.
Before too long there will be robots for everything .. . then they'll get tired of feeding us.
puff up that bond market
Trust me when i say, no one is more disgusted with the financial system we are currently living in then me, but I hestitate to just write off this guys as illegitimate in his thoughts and aspirations. I think this guy represents unfortunately, the majority of working American's at this point! Very confused, misinformed, overwhelmed, and dillusional about where we are as a society.
Most people in my own outer and inner circle of family and friends, can't even talk about the things we debate and banter on about on ZH, without completely freaking out, and asking you to stop talking, they dont want to hear it, etc etc I know its NOT an excude when TSHTF, but its reality all the same!
We are three generations now into the propaganda and brainwashing campaign in the Country, that if you just "make more money", everything will be alright! Informed and "enlightened" people know that is bullshit, but its hard to argue with on the surface and that is where this guy in the article and most Americans live frankly, on the surface!
Dead right in EVERYTHING you just said. I want to give you a hug, as I grow tired of the zombie "just make more money" crowd and am happy for places like ZH that allows us to see that we are not alone.
1000 out of 7 billion. Well it is a start.
"Most people in my own outer and inner circle of family and friends, can't even talk about the things we debate ..."
Most people in MY outer and inner circle ... WON'T even talk about NUCLEAR POWER, FIAT MONEY, DEFICIT SPENDING, CONSENSUS "SCIENCE" ...
Most have very strong liberal tendencies.
Their thinking seems to be 'if you don't talk about it, they are correct'
America the land of the exceptionally stupid liberals!
Correct on pretty much all those things. I have had a lot of trouble with my republican friends too though- they can't move beyond the 'we have to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here' theme. The indoctrination is deep. Trying to explain to a tea party type that it is impossible to have perpetual warfare all across the planet along with a'war on drugs' here at home and yet still have a 'small govt that respects the constitution'. Those two things cannot coexist, and trying to explain that is infinitely frustrating. Also, trying to explain that yes, I do care about the troops, more than you do, because I want to bring them home and let them have meaningful employment, not keep sending our young people off to get blown up or shot in some third world hellhole in a bullshit war.
I haven't noticed that the "exceptionally stupid liberals" are any more ignorant than the "born again Christian conservatives".
It amazes me how many university educated people there are that have no concept of math and physics and their applications to daily life. This is a primary reason 9/11 and it's nonsense explanations have been given a pass by the country's majority.
TBH this guy is better off at 8.50/hr than 15/hr. He's going to lose the FSA bennies real quick @ $30k/yr.
Thank the economic gods we now have public union SEIU janitors dictating economic policy or we'd be up shit creak in a leaky wash tub.
I'm sprucing up my resume. Where I work they pay you a salary so they can get around overtime hours. But I routinely put in 400 hours + per month for stretches of time. I figured up my hourly pay for one particularly hellish year and it came out to $5.25 an hour.
High School Custodian sounds just fine with me.
Not to be rude, but why the hell are you still working there?
If you have done the math and are still there, who is to blame?
Jumbotron I hear you. At my work they wanted everyone on salary working 50 hours minimum and 60 hours for the average. I walked up to my boss's whiteboard and showed him the math for a 50 and 60 hour week at average salary. He walked over to the board, erased it, and said that we will never speak of it again.
If you start your own business....5 bucks an hour is lofty for this first year.
"Not to be rude, but why the hell are you still working there?
If you have done the math and are still there, who is to blame?"
It's a valid question....nothing rude about it.
50+ years old.
15+ years in Retail Marketing and Management ( Not a lot of demand for that....or at a pay scale that makes it worth the shit you have to put up with )
20+ years in Broadcasting...either on camera (meteorologist) or behind the camera (various roles, cameraman, audio engineer, master control operator, ENG field photographer, editor, live production setup and operation. (Ditto the above for the same reasons )
50+ years old.
Started a business of my own. One part time to make ends meet.....the other full time. Got involved with another. My partner financed the company through a ponzi scheme unbeknownst to me right as the bubble was bursting. Lost everything including home. Spent a year in a one room bungalow with my wife and kids. Another 7 months after that in a pop-up camper in the woods.
50+ years old + very cautious now.
It's not like I haven't been looking. But...like so many others.....you get lost in the black hole that sucks in all candidates who aren't 22, cheap to rent, and don't mind getting bent over just because they consider themselves lucky to be employed at all while hearing their friends bitch every day about still living at home with mom and dad.
But....I kinda like the road life. Travel world wide running productions. Just sux to get used like....well....that aforementioned 22 year old. LOL !
There is a lot of unofficial age discrimination out there.
I'll be damned if I'll click on any link leading to the Washington Post.
Anybody think a school bathroom janitor writes that well and spells the words right?
I think he was using a teleprompter.
Disabled and/or impoverished to boot.
The landlords will get the lion's share of it.
"$15/Hr Salary Will Change Everything".....
"....until the Federal Reserve and Usury Department collude to debase that $15/hr such that is worth $.15/hr. Then it will be back to the drawing board and try to figure out how to feed my four year old."
California on 9.85 an hour with a 4 yr old? What don't we know.
What dont we know...Mf'er is FSA all the way!!
See above. He didn't write that. It's all bullshit.
Excellent point....I feel foolish for missing this when I read it.
How much will the Union, taxes, SS, etc go up?
All I know is that it sure is easy to raise wages when an entity doesn't operate with a profit motive and is funded purely through the theft know as property and income taxes. The district won't realize the shortfall for years later, will come hat in hand to the residents in that area with a tax levy of some sort, and then blame the shortage on something completely unrelated. so long as the shortfall has enough substance to divide the residents enough to fight amongst themselves.
FUCK ALL GOVERNMENTS!!!!!
In reply to Dr. Richard...
Respectfully, the 'government' isnt' the problem. THIS style government is the problem. Government is necessary, but as our founding fathers tried in so many ways to tell us, it has to be as minimal as possible and watched very carefully 24/7/365.
I respect your respectful rebuttal, but disagree. The nature of ALL governments is to cosolidate power and enclose those they rule over in a large enough pen that the animals don't start kicking. I have yet to see an example of this otherwise in all of my experiences and reading of history. I can give you examples of this on a Home Owner's Association level, 2,000 residents Village Level, 50,000 person City level, 11.54 million person State level, 300+ million country level, and those are just examples I have lived through in my 38 years of life.
I understand the utopian dream of "if we just get the right people into office doing things the right way", but that is an ideal fantasy world that allows some centralized group with the monopoly use of force to either force their edicts on the people or for the masses to vote away the personal or property rights away from the minority of dissenting voices.
You sir, have earned my respect and my first comment on the site in likely well over a year.
In my opinion, the desire and act of consolidating power (government) is at grievous odds with long term personal freedom, peace and prosperity. I fear no individual as I do the state/collective herd. At the very least I believe I can rationalise, converse and empathise with an individual.
The individual has only been a problem of my person or property once in my years of living. The individual acting on behalf of the collective has harmed my person and property for the entirity of my existance. Could not agree with you more.
Dr Head,
Thank you for your polite rebuttal to my rebuttal. I am considering what you said which is very interesting. Especially the different population levels.
I hope I did not come across as one of the utopian dreamers. That certainly was not my intent. I still believe that some kind of government must exist but that any government is necessarily a pest and must be fought and guarded against at all times. I should have made that clearer.
I look forward to more of your posts!
Government is the problem.
Our founding fathers thought they had covered all the safeguards we would need to make sure government was not the problem.
But it's clear they were wrong. They underestimated how powerful the allure of free shit to the masses would become. It was a black swan event. Government welfare did not yet exist.
We've tried that. The framework for carefully watching the "minimal" government was called the Constitution. That hasn't worked out so well has it? That limited government has blossomed into a gigantic and frankly scary police state that watches and/or listents to everything you do or say. If you cross some arbitrary line you can be imprisoned with no rights, no lawyer and no prospects. Doesn't sound limited enough to me.
I think the argument can be made and sustained that the government has gotten bigger and more intrusive with every single administration - Democrat and Republican. Wars are particularly fertile times for government growth. Few people throughout history have been able to resist the power that government makes available to them. Far easier to shut or lock the opposition up than to put up with debate and dissension. Lew Rockwell has penned the most recent book on the advantages of a stateless society, but there were many before and no doubt will be many after.
Rothbard's ANATOMY OF THE STATE is a relatively short essay that makes the argument against the State as an institution. I believe it is available free on the net.
and all the while screaming... 'What about the children?' as they stuff their pockets.
Take away the EBT and you are a net loser.
His EBT isn't going anywhere and you know it.
He'll be over the maximum $$ to qualify.
The poverty bar rises with the tide. You didn't really think it would stay still with all these minimum wage hikes, did you?
Also, there's more to it than just straight income.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility
And the kicker will be to see if everybody else their salary will go up 50% also.
Because, for example, a webdesigner who now makes 15 dollars a hour should make 22,5 after his raise. But somehow I don't think he'll get it.
And if he gets the same salary as a janitor....
The janitor just passed me.
HOAs can be a real pain. I fought with mine for 6 months over planting a tiny tree in front of my window to block the scorching sun at noon. I finally gave up … and moved further outside with NO HOA! They don’t say anything abut the Fugly huge dirty pickups eyesoring some driveways, but block me from planting a friggin tree!
Screwed priorities….wrong community for me for sure.
try being a small business owner and doing the numbers, will make you laugh, or blow your head off.
Whenever I hear a politican say small business is the engine of our economy, my ass hurts a little.
We're all janitors now, mopping up this mess....
We're gonna need a bigger mop.
Why do you think unions so adamantly support a higher minimum wage when none of their members make minimum wage?
Over/Under 2 years after 2016 hes replaced by a robot?
Roomba!
They still need somebody to bring in the can of saw dust when one of the kids throws up.
Candystripers
At least it is REAL work? Which is more than I could say about most finnancial stuff.
pods
better still...youtube: cat on a roomba in a shark suit...
You mean the vacuum cleaner?
I thought that was why we were bringing in all these 8 year old Hondurans.
That raise will probably knock him out all the programs he is currently in. Be careful what you wish for !!!
I wonder if he realizes that today's $9.85 is less than his starting salary of $8.65 ten years ago?
Even using the bogus fedgov cpi calculator it is only $7.82.
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=9.85&year1=2014&year2=2004
(and I just realized I'm now officially making less at my current job than my starting salary, too)
How can a person be so pathetic that they can't find a better job or learn a more valuable skill/trade in 10 YEARS? I guess after sittign on his ass and screaming "GIVE ME GIVE ME GIVE ME" for 10 years, it finally paid off.
Did you read the article? First paragraph...
Apparently the guy is a little slow, or has some other disability. This may well be the best he can do...Why is that pathetic? It seems that he is at least TRYING, why put him down for that?
Is it pathetic that not all people are as smart or skilled as you are? Even Lloyd Blankfein needs to employ non-skilled labor every now and then.
We can't ALL be CEO's you know.
The way he writes, he could make big bucks as a ghostwriter for Hillary.
"Did you read the article? First paragraph..."
So the libtards roll out a slow and disabled person to cram min wage laws down employer's throats and you eat it up. Do you think this guy is representative of the majority of min wage workers. I think not. Next you are going to tell me it's for the children.
Umm, I'm actually NOT in favor of the minimum wage laws, as I consider them to be nothing more than bandaids stuck on a mortal wound...
That said, nothing is going to change the way we pay people, not as long as this current system keeps muddling along. So my feeling is, if we are all going to have to go for this ride to nowhere, at least let the guys in the back of the bus have a little joy, since they have no choice about where they're being driven.
We're all headed for the brick wall anyway.
Of fuck off. If you want the bottom rungs of society to work instead of sitting at home and collecting bennies, then shitting on someone who is working and denigrating low income workers isn't very helpful.
The more money this guy makes, the less he depends on the govt and welfare - a good thing all around.
I don't think he's "slow" at all. Apparently he has a catering business on the side and works a second job.
I read the WHOLE article.
Exactly, and he'll be wondering why he can no longer afford food for his son in 2017 even though he's making $15/hr. The answer? Why, obviously he'll need to make $20/hr! People are fucking idiots.
And so the government continues to rob us, right in front of our eyes, and we happily go along with it. Kumbaya
He can't change the rules. The rules that have created our system of inflationary money supply have been created by a tiny, very wealthy minority that benefit whenever they're able to pay for their goods and services with money that is worth less (but they have MUCH MORE OF). The most he can do, if he's lucky, it treat the symptoms a bit.
yep, in 1991 I started out at $12/hr at a job right out of the military. Decades later doing the same type of work again for $20/hr, and still had a better standard of living back then than I do now.
That calculator is bogus. A $1.25 (minimum wage) in 1964 supposedly has the buying power of $9.59 in 2014.
In 1964 that $1.25 was five 90% silver quarters, which would cost today at least twice as much as $9.59.
After adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage was steady at around $20.00/hr until the mid-70s. Then it fell to around a third that which is where it's lingering now. Importing 50,000,000 unskilled workers may have had something to do with that, too.
Seiu is doing a bang up job for all those dollars that they confiscate.
Tadaaaaa.
That is how profits are made.
My neighbor owns a call center and he relayed a story about that. He had a gal that was doing amazing work for his company. Amazing enough to substantiate a nice raise for her. He brought her into his office and was beaming with pride in his ability to reward her great work for the company. When he told her the news tears started streaming down her face and he thought how wonderful it was that she was so happy that she was crying. Turns out, she was crying because that raise would kick her out of her section 8 housing, eliminate her food stamps, government paid daycare, government paid medical, and whatever other government reliant stipend she was receiving. She refused the raise, my neighbor didn't have to pay the raise (pocketed the money in his profits instead), and she was then finally happy that the government gravy train wouldn't end.
Wouldn't want to be self-reliant or anything.
Government reliance stiffles one's upward mobility. They call it fixed income for reason - that person is fixed from ever stepping off the reservation.
I have a number of stories like that, and people wonder why they would ever vote to cut their own throats.
Along the same lines it reminds me of social worker stories...the people they were trying to help would apply for jobs just to stay on welfare knowing they would never take any job.
Thank you for this post. That's some seriously wack shit - sign of the times.
Stockholm Syndrome
Yes, thanks for your post cause that's one of the things that I thought about. This poor bastard (if he's even real) doesn't realize that he's about to be kicked in the groin. His new rate (over 31K/yr) is over the limit for a lot of the government freebies, but also utility freebies. Out here I think Edison limits your income to 29K before they give you a rate discount. Welcome to the middle class pal.
This is how it will change
1. You will no longer qualify for assistance.
2. The price of everything will inflate to absorb the difference before you can cash your first paycheck.
3. Your union dues will go up.
4. Your 4 year old son will hate you even more when he grows up & goes to prison for stealing bread.
Funny thing is, at 15$ per hour, he is making almost the same as what the parochial school TEACHERS make in most of the country.
It makes you wonder how much better off they would be if they were still paid in barter, like the old one-room schoolhouses.
Well, assuming the IRS didn't pump you full of hollow-points.
Hes in luck. He'll soon have all his time to give to his kid.
Well, once Big Macs cost $20 each, maybe my fat ass will stop buying 2 of them for lunch.
By 2016, a loaf of bread will be over $100.
Hey now, sawdust isn't cheap.
Hey Tulpa, kiss my mutant ass: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/study-shows-drilling-wastewater-causes-180...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-07/new-research-strengthens-link-b...