Big Macs and shampoo......sm
Posted By: m on 2009-03-02
In Reply to: The price of shampoo or McDonalds WAS NOT my original post at all.....sm - Cyndiee
No, they weren't in your original post, but they were used as examples to try to illustrate the concept that if mininum wage was raised, which includes the wage for the teenager who serves you at McDonalds and the stocker who puts the shampoo on the shelf, that the cost of those items, as well as every other thing you buy, would go up and would cause the price of these goods to still be basically out of reach for minimum wage earners which would still cause them to prefer welfare over working and struggling to feed their families.
I think one solution might be the old commodities system. We used to have it in Texas and I remember one aunt who received commodities back in the early 70s. She would receive beans, rice, cheese, peanut butter, oatmeal, powdered milk, etc. instead of food stamps. These were all good nutritional foods, but they weren't the most exciting foods and didn't offer much variety. Perhaps if welfare recipients received those instead of a card where they could buy steak and whatever food they chose, then there might be more of an incentive to get out and get a job.
I applaud you for being a budget-minded person who pays her bills and provides for her family, even when it is hard in this economy. I'm a single parent, raising 2 teenagers (which are basically bottomless pits) on my salary of about $23,000 a year and about $230 child support a month. I am still paying for my home and a vehicle as well. No, it's not easy and there are months when Peter is pretty tired of getting robbed to pay Paul, but I keep plugging along. Eating out is a luxury for me as well. I cook at home. We generally get clothes for Christmas and birthdays and I try to take care of them so they will last. I don't know the last time I actually bought anything new for myself in the way of clothes. I'm certainly not on the cutting edge of fashion, but at least I'm clothed. I think I may live in a less expensive area of the country than you, though, and I was raised in a very monetarily poor family but, like you, am rich in the love of friends and family. Hang in there, Cyndiee.
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I just cannot grasp the fact that you can't buy shampoo
or basic needs if you are both working and working overtime. You must be in serious debt....
The price of shampoo or McDonalds WAS NOT my original post at all.....sm
Wow, someone tries to come up with a viable solution to just one of our myriad of economic problems in this country, something that will work in the long haul, and we cannot have an intelligent,respectful discusion, sharing ideas and thinking aloud? When all anyone can contribute is insults, put-downs, etc., this board starts to look like worse than the floor of Congress, and these days that is saying a lot. What we have been doing in this country has OBVIOUSLY not been working, has it? So perhaps new persepctives would work. I am not new. the minimum wage battle has been going on forever. If no one can see that giving workers a fairer wage, an incesntive to work hard, pay into the tax system federal and state, become consumeers of good, housing, etc., if you think that one-shot tax refunds are the answer, you are sadly wrong, because that has been the status quo for years and has led us into this giant hole. I am just saying, when it is more profitable for someone to be on welfare and foodstamps than to work what we now have as pitiful minimum wages that WILL NO LONGER in today's economy feed, cloth, and shelter a family today adequately, then I believe an overhaul and new solutions might be in order. And the shampoo thing was a metaphor, if you can understand THAT concept. When you are keeping a household of five going, on a budget, in the North East, and not surviving on credit and borrowing, loans, etc., but truly working for it, and putting kids through college as you go (even state colleges), it is tough, we pay our bills on time, don't get behind, are trying to teach our kids fiscal responsibility, and live within our means and our budget. Bully for your vacations and restaurant meals, it is a luxury for us, and I am not ashamed to say it but proud....perhaps we are relatively poor according to you, but we are honest, hard working, don't owe anyone, and we are rich in family and friends. Guess it is your prespective, dear.
The price of shampoo or McDonalds WAS NOT my original post at all.....sm
Wow, someone tries to come up with a viable solution to just one of our myriad of economic problems in this country, something that will work in the long haul, and we cannot have an intelligent,respectful discusion, sharing ideas and thinking aloud? When all anyone can contribute is insults, put-downs, etc., this board starts to look like worse than the floor of Congress, and these days that is saying a lot. What we have been doing in this country has OBVIOUSLY not been working, has it? So perhaps new persepctives would work. I am not new. the minimum wage battle has been going on forever. If no one can see that giving workers a fairer wage, an incesntive to work hard, pay into the tax system federal and state, become consumeers of good, housing, etc., if you think that one-shot tax refunds are the answer, you are sadly wrong, because that has been the status quo for years and has led us into this giant hole. I am just saying, when it is more profitable for someone to be on welfare and foodstamps than to work what we now have as pitiful minimum wages that WILL NO LONGER in today's economy feed, cloth, and shelter a family today adequately, then I believe an overhaul and new solutions might be in order. And the shampoo thing was a metaphor, if you can understand THAT concept. When you are keeping a household of five going, on a budget, in the North East, and not surviving on credit and borrowing, loans, etc., but truly working for it, and putting kids through college as you go (even state colleges), it is tough, we pay our bills on time, don't get behind, are trying to teach our kids fiscal responsibility, and live within our means and our budget. Bully for your vacations and restaurant meals, it is a luxury for us, and I am not ashamed to say it but proud....perhaps we are relatively poor according to you, but we are honest, hard working, don't owe anyone, and we are rich in family and friends. Guess it is your prespective, dear.
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