_________________
I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

Would you care to document this?

_________________
That's weak sauce!

That reads like an unfunny Onion article. You can't jump from $9 to $90 to make your point. It doesn't make sense.

_________________
Tanzania¹²

Well if all things were the same and they were charging more, logic tells us that they'd be making more money aka profiting more. Obviously it's not that simple though. As with everything else discussed in this thread, there are a lot of variables.

_________________
Tanzania¹²

Sailor and Zeb said it best, minimum wage is not meant to be a living wage. People on minimum wage should group together and share rent/utilities/food bills, etc.

_________________
"Are we rockin' and rollin' or what?!''

-- Seattle coach Pete Carroll, celebrating with his coaches after the Seahawks pulled off a trade with the Jets, netting running back Leon Washington on Saturday, via Seahawks.com

Why shouldn't minimum wage be the minimum for basic necessities? A person who works 40/hrs a week on minimum wage should be able to support themselves. Rent, transportation (even if it's just a bus), health insurance, food... these are all the minimums for life and therefore minimum wage should reflect that.

If ft minimum wage doesn't support the basic needs of a person then the minimum wage is too low.

_________________
RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

Health insurance isn't a minimum for life.

_________________
FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ FrankerZ

Health insurance is an absolute necessity in modern life.

_________________
RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

Maybe people need education on how to live on minimum wage. I could afford rent in a cheap apartment and food every week on minimum wage. Granted I wasn't eating expensive, awesome food, but all my necessities were easily obtained with a strict budget.

I think people who put all their money into cable tv and eating out for dinner who then can't pay rent need to learn how to make the most of what they have. Minimum wage goes around much further when you have two roommates as well, so I think it's logical to spread out the bills among a few people and it then becomes easier to afford luxuries beyond basic necessities.

_________________
"Are we rockin' and rollin' or what?!''

-- Seattle coach Pete Carroll, celebrating with his coaches after the Seahawks pulled off a trade with the Jets, netting running back Leon Washington on Saturday, via Seahawks.com

Logical, but not always an option.

_________________
RIP ROAD WOES 12/2/2012

So, what of these are basic necessities?:

But maybe we should think about this a bit. Let’s juxtapose that 47 percent figure with the ownership of various consumer goodies.
More than 90 percent of households have a microwave oven.
88 percent of households have a television set in their living or family room.
87 percent of households subscribe to cable or satellite TV.
77 percent of households own a personal computer.
72 percent of households have a flat-screen TV.
68 percent of households have broadband Internet service.
68 percent of households have a television in their bedroom.
So is it nearly twice as important to own a microwave oven as it is to make a contribution to support, say, the Department of Justice?

From a recent article. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/columnists/scott-burns/20130126-scott-burns-how-many-people-should-pay-income-taxes.ece?action=reregister

_________________
That's weak sauce!

Minimum wage is for those with minimum skills, first time employees, and usually by teenagers. They can also be replaced easily by the next person who walks in looking for a job.

If you are in your mid 20's still working for minimum wage, you are doing something wrong, live in the wrong location, or are unmotivated to do anything better.

The minimum wage was never designed to provide a wage that would support a single earner household, nor should it.

_________________
That's weak sauce!

I actually pretty much agree with you here, Tex (GASP!!). My problem though is that, as ridiculous as it may seem, there are actually adult Americans who do not possess a skill set that allows them to work any job other than a minimum wage type of job. Often times it's because they're not very smart and have often made a series of bad, or rather uneducated, decisions (such as having kids, etc) that multiply and intensify their dire situations, not too mention affect the lives of their children.

BUT I don't believe that raising the minimum wage helps these types of people. That's what social programs are for.

_________________
Tanzania¹²

People, it seems, are having a tremendously hard time separating rights from things that most Americans are able to afford in accordance with their standard of living.

_________________
I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

I don't think that's true. I think often people have trouble discerning what's a "necessity" vs what's a "convenience". Like a TV in the bedroom. Every American has the right to put a TV in their bedroom. Do they need a TV in their bedroom? I would say, more often than not, probably no.

_________________
Tanzania¹²

True enough. But "convenience" turns to "necessity" turns to "right" too often. And the "right" to put a TV in someone's bedroom is not a right, but rather a freedom. And it's also that distinction that brings people to call for more government-provided "rights" when they really mean they want to force certain freedoms onto everyone.

_________________
I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

Exactly Sailor. If having a TV were a right then they would be provided, since they aren't it is a luxury provided by the freedoms we possess. You can live without one, but who would want to?

_________________
2013 AAR: Chris Harper

We gotta fight for the right to party. That's all I know.

_________________
Tanzania¹²

Define "right". I think I have the right, as an American, to have a tv in my bedroom. I can do it. There's no law against it, if somebody tried to stop me then I have the right to tell them to fuck off, no? Is that not a right? Or a couple of them at that point?

_________________
Tanzania¹²

You do have the freedom for the TV, and the right to tell them to fuck off as that is protected under the Constitution. I just see rights as something that is guaranteed, and freedom is the choice to be able to do something that is within the laws of our nation.

_________________
2013 AAR: Chris Harper