[P&WBryant]

New Zealand has had a $15 minimum wage for years. And they seem somehow to manage!

[biker1]

Ben Shapiro is a co-founder of The Daily Wire. I believe they have about 75 employees.

Originally Posted by jacksonbrown

He obviously never had to make payroll.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by davephan

About 90% of the college majors have poor to low return on investment. Many people get a worthless college degree, and end up getting a low wage job that they could have obtained with no college degree.

I worked in low wage jobs for almost two decades, before going to a low cost technical college, and obtained a two year IT degree in one year. My starting wage at the IT job was double what I used to make. After about 15 years on the IT job, I was making 5 to 6 times the customer service job.

People need to invest in themselves to increase their job skills in careers that have a good return on the education investment in time and money.

In the trades, an electrician is equal to 3 carpenters. A plumber is equal to 5 carpenters. Moral of the story, become a plumber, not a carpenter, if you work in the trades.

The $15 wage is not a panacea. Target raised the wages to $15 and hour. At the same time, full time workers became part tie workers with no benefits.

Most people have it within themselves to do much more than they think that they can do. I limited my income for almost two decades, working low wage jobs. People have to acquire the job skills so that they can earn higher incomes.

With Socialism or Communism, everyone is brought down to the low level. Imagine hard working students who get A’s, are given C’s, so that all students can receive a C, even the lazy students, that are unwilling to work hard.

Why do so many people have an UNFOUNDED fear that there is a socialist "behind every bush"? Are the Koch Brothers and others using their money to push that kind of propaganda out of social media, news channels, and some radio programs? It seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon ( last 5 or 10 years). This fear has affected many people in the Miami-Dade area - and spread around the country.

[jacksonbrown]

Originally Posted by biker1

Ben Shapiro is a co-founder of The Daily Wire. I believe they have about 75 employees.

Sorry, I should have posted that "the first speaker" (who portends to speak for others)....

BTW, Ben Shapiro certainly took him to task.

[Going My Way]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Stop, Stop.....it hurts too much.

Mr. Helpful . . .

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Eg_cruz@comcast.net

Stop it.....do you really feel that way. First The Village retail prices are the highest per square foot then anywhere else, plus they do a triple net lease. So has nothing to do with greedy companies other then the Morris family. Prices will go up and small businesses will have no choice but to close. This amendment helps no one.

Good info about that "certain family". Good to keep that in perspective.

[biker1]

Oh, yes, I see what you mean now. He is probably just a student.

Ben Shapiro has excellent debating skills.

Originally Posted by jacksonbrown

Sorry, I should have posted that "the first speaker" (who portends to speak for others)....

BTW, Ben Shapiro certainly took him to task.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by P&WBryant

New Zealand has had a $15 minimum wage for years. And they seem somehow to manage!

New Zealand does better than the US on ALL measures of social well-being and quality of life. That is EASY to Google.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by biker1

Oh, yes, I see what you mean now. He is probably just a student.

Ben Shapiro has excellent debating skills.

Talking fast and APPEARING to be confident does not necessarily mean that his side of that debate was the correct and empathetic one. If you are arrogant and NOT empathetic, you can bully an audience into believing that you are right (even though wrong). And it is a well-known fact that it is WAY easier to debate the CONSERVATIVE side of any argument. Mr. Shapiro WAS indeed impressive (on the surface), but I imagine that if he took the OPPOSITE side of the debate - that HE would maintain his illusion of being forceful and RIGHT.

Hitler would have been a CHAMPION debater! And probably Stalin. I would NOT have bet against either of them. ......One needs to understand that MIGHT does NOT make RIGHT. Indira Gandhi would have LOST a lot of debates.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by village dreamer

yes it would be nice if everyone could make $15 per hour , but. will you pay $3 for a donut,$20 for pizza. i dont know where this is going to go. can a small shop pay $15?? you all know who pays the $15.... we will. how about all the grass cutters , gate keepers,all the golf course people. all our fees will go up.

My two cents worth.
Far as minimum wage, we look for simple answers to a very complex issue. Choosing say 15.00 an hour. The dollar is not a fixed quantity as is say an inch. Roughly said it takes $6.00 to buy what a dollar did in ???? 1970. People working for 15.00 an hour would likely get food stamps etc. Thus they have more to spend than the $15 they earn. The past amendment is a raise over time.
Is our government predicting, installing, causing further inflation in the future? Fair-fair is in the eye of the beholder. Reality is that if labor costs go up businesses will explore if the job needs to be done and or if a machine can do it. Opportunity? We all walk past it everyday. Success, is not only seeing it but acting on what you see. We all have shoulda, coulda, mighta.

[biker1]

Ben Shapiro is an excellent debater because his arguments are well thought out, he usually presents facts and data, and he uses effective debating strategies. Please stop capitalizing words - it is obnoxious.

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

Talking fast and APPEARING to be confident does not necessarily mean that his side of that debate was the correct and empathetic one. If you are arrogant and NOT empathetic, you can bully an audience into believing that you are right (even though wrong). And it is a well-known fact that it is WAY easier to debate the CONSERVATIVE side of any argument. Mr. Shapiro WAS indeed impressive (on the surface), but I imagine that if he took the OPPOSITE side of the debate - that HE would maintain his illusion of being forceful and RIGHT.

Hitler would have been a CHAMPION debater! And probably Stalin. I would NOT have bet against either of them. ......One needs to understand that MIGHT does NOT make RIGHT. Indira Gandhi would have LOST a lot of debates.

[Going My Way]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

New Zealand does better than the US on ALL measures of social well-being and quality of life. That is EASY to Google.

Maybe because New Zealand don't have as many freeloaders or borders next to 3rd world countries, could that be it?

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Scott O

No prices are not cheaper up north...you count highest TAXED cities, NYC, Boston...your response says it all...you mean the greedy companies that employ everyone? Typical retired person comment...

I'm not retired. I still work. I'm newly transplanted down here, and I know what my grocery bills were in 2018 in Connecticut compared to what they are now in Florida. Prices here in the Villages are ridiculous. Even something as basic as a pound of ground chuck is insane. In order to get the best prices, every week, I have to go to 4 different stores, and take advantage of their rotating sales, and buy mostly store-brand. If I need a particular item that is only sold at one store, and that store charges more for everything else, that's a trip to a store for ONE item only.

Gas, time, effort, mileage on my car (or golf cart) all add up. Where I used to live in Connecticut, I could get everything I wanted at 2 different stores, each within a mile of each other. I could walk to one of them, and it was a 5-minute drive to the other. Quality foods, brand names for most items, specialty items that I usually got were also usually on sale or had coupons.

My usual weekly supermarket trip in Connecticut was $55. My usual weekly supermarket trip in Florida is $70.

Doesn't seem like much - but neither does a $1.44/hour raise from $8.56 to $10/hour. It basically covers the grocery bill increase, and the added cost of gas, time, and mileage to buy them.

And that doesn't even start until next September. The $15/hour doesn't start until September 2016 - almost 7 years from now.

By then, who knows how much it'll cost for just the basic needs in Florida?

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I'm not retired. I still work. I'm newly transplanted down here, and I know what my grocery bills were in 2018 in Connecticut compared to what they are now in Florida. Prices here in the Villages are ridiculous. Even something as basic as a pound of ground chuck is insane. In order to get the best prices, every week, I have to go to 4 different stores, and take advantage of their rotating sales, and buy mostly store-brand. If I need a particular item that is only sold at one store, and that store charges more for everything else, that's a trip to a store for ONE item only.

Gas, time, effort, mileage on my car (or golf cart) all add up. Where I used to live in Connecticut, I could get everything I wanted at 2 different stores, each within a mile of each other. I could walk to one of them, and it was a 5-minute drive to the other. Quality foods, brand names for most items, specialty items that I usually got were also usually on sale or had coupons.

My usual weekly supermarket trip in Connecticut was $55. My usual weekly supermarket trip in Florida is $70.

Doesn't seem like much - but neither does a $1.44/hour raise from $8.56 to $10/hour. It basically covers the grocery bill increase, and the added cost of gas, time, and mileage to buy them.

And that doesn't even start until next September. The $15/hour doesn't start until September 2016 - almost 7 years from now.

By then, who knows how much it'll cost for just the basic needs in Florida?

Everybody think there getting break by Florida no income tax? They make it up and more with other taxes.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

Everybody think there getting break by Florida no income tax? They make it up and more with other taxes.

Maybe the state does, but, on an individual basis, it depends a lot on what your income is.