Quote:
Originally Posted by Byte1
I agree with the poster that mentioned a "flat tax" for everyone, with no tax breaks. And that is including those making minimum wages. Minimum wages was never supposed to be a full-time job and career for family earners. It was meant for part-time, mostly high school kids so they could get some job experience. Nuff said on that.
On the other hand, welfare should be earned/EARNED. Everyone that accepts welfare should have to work for it. States/counties could have jobs set up such as road work, landscaping, trash removal, janitor, etc. and babysitting for gov workers needing childcare, filing, mailing, courier, maid work, etc. Even simple little jobs would give the welfare recipient some sense of respect. A form of work/job camp, only not centralized. Of course, housing could be provided for those needing temp housing along with the temp job for their welfare. Anyone wishing to further or progress could be allowed job hunting time (with proof) and/or job training or education. I would mandate this kind of action for anyone requesting welfare. Almost everyone could provide some useful trade for their gov hand-out. Why do people think that it is heartless to require an effort or work related trade for gov assistance? Very few recipients actually can not physically earn their gov assistance.
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Y'all really really REALLY need to stop spreading this urban legend. I get that any of you who are old enough to remember what the original point of minimum wage is, are too old to remember. I get that the rest of you wouldn't have known, unless you were actually paying attention in school and maybe you have forgotten your lessons then too. It probably wasn't all that important at the time. I get that.
But I don't get why people would make these claims that are EASILY debunked, that have never been true, have never had any truth to them at all.
The National minimum wage was created in 1938 by Congress under the Fair Labor Act. It was implemented to protect workers in the labor force and provide a LIVING WAGE. That is *exactly* what was intended by it when it was created. That was its #1 purpose.
That continued to be the purpose for a couple of decades, until it ceased to keep up with inflation, and minimum wage workers became unable to live on their minimum wage. This country stopped even bothering to try and catch up for a very long time, and now we're in the situation we're in.
Sources:
Minimum Wage | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage | U.S. Department of Labor
Can a Family Survive on the U.S. Minimum Wage?
Minimum Wage: Definition, History, Pros, Cons, Purpose
There are dozens of other sources, and Forbes Magazine, that financial bastion of capitalistic goodness, has figured that if you account for general inflation and the general rise in wages over time, minimum wage, compared to the 25-cents/hour it was in 1938, would be $8.86/hour, not the $7.25/hour it is currently.