House and Senate Democrats introduce legeslation to increase federal min. wage to $15/hr by 2025

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Hope this legislation gets passed. as $15.00/hr =  $ 31,200/ year  barely enough  to cover rent. heath insurance, food, clothing for a family --- as my one son has learned.

 

 

2 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

If they don't want to support their employee's lives then they should fork over a lot more in taxes than what they are currently paying so that the Government can support them. After all the point of work is to support our lives, if companies are unable or unwilling to do that, somebody has to.

I'm all for supporting small businesses and allowing smaller businesses be exempt from some mandates.

I suspect you don't have a clue how much taxes they already pay, so how can you say they should pay more?

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Specializes in Hospice, Geri, Psych and SA,.
2 minutes ago, Beerman said:

I suspect you don't have a clue how much taxes they already pay, so how can you say they should pay more?

No, I haven't memorized the tax rate of every large corporation in America for the past decade. I do however have the ability to look up said information which does provide a "clue" into what they pay and even more enlightening what they don't pay under our previous dictator's tax scheme. 

Center for public integrity

60 Fortune 500 Companies Avoided All Federal Income Tax in 2018 Under New Tax Law

FACT SHEET: CORPORATE TAX RATES

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5 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

No, I haven't memorized the tax rate of every large corporation in America for the past decade. I do however have the ability to look up said information which does provide a "clue" into what they pay and even more enlightening what they don't pay under our previous dictator's tax scheme. 

Center for public integrity

60 Fortune 500 Companies Avoided All Federal Income Tax in 2018 Under New Tax Law

FACT SHEET: CORPORATE TAX RATES

My question is still valid then. How can you say they should pay more when you don't know how much they already pay? 

And, how about medicare, social security, property, unemployment,  etc?

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19 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

After all the point of work is to support our lives, if companies are unable or unwilling to do that, somebody has to.

Support different stages of our lives.

My first jobs in high school and through college was to get some spending money and cover some of my college related expenses.

These kind of jobs, such as at the grocery store bagging groceries,  mopping the floor, and fetching carts from the parking lot didn't require much skill, education, or training.  And thus, didn't pay much. Therefore, I didn't expect to remain at such a job if I wanted a nice home, car, support a family, etc. 

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Specializes in Hospice, Geri, Psych and SA,.
5 minutes ago, Beerman said:

My question is still valid then. How can you say they should pay more when you don't know how much they already pay? 

And, how about medicare, social security, property, unemployment,  etc?

Well neither of us are tax attorneys so I doubt either of us knows EXACTLY what they pay. However, I know it is chump change compared to what they are making as profit. Look, I'm all for people being able to be wealthy and businesses to make profit, but I also think that hording all the wealth is unsustainable for society.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

The same arguments people have against raising minimum wages is the same arguments to keep slaves enslaved; the little guy running a business simply cannot afford to pay (insert number).  This argument is old and has not addressed the real problem that every person who works a full time job should be able to sustain themselves separate from the social system.  Thus, I agree with the posters that state that people cannot be self reliant and self sufficient working wages that do not make them independent of the welfare system.  And no, it is not reasonable to think that everyone in America can and will be able to work jobs that do not pay a federally mandated minimum wage. 

Once upon a time minimum wage was enough to live on even if it could not make a person rich.  During that time, rich people paid more of their fair share in taxes (and still were rich) and it helped support a real middle class.  That can happen again and it is not called Socialism.  In fact, during that time we were very much Capitalist who had a financially strong middle class and at that time, the American dream that is defined today, was born.

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5 minutes ago, Beerman said:

Support different stages of our lives.

My first jobs in high school and through college was to get some spending money and cover some of my college related expenses.

These kind of jobs, such as at the grocery store bagging groceries,  mopping the floor, and fetching carts from the parking lot didn't require much skill, education, or training.  And thus, didn't pay much. Therefore, I didn't expect to remain at such a job if I wanted a nice home, car, support a family, etc. 

So since you picked yourself up from your bootstraps everyone should be able to?

We have so many nice things in this country. Yet, while the extremely wealthy live decadently with their mansions, and yachts, we have people that work full time yet are homeless or a paycheck away from being homeless. Do you realize what it takes to get out of poverty in America now? Like I said, not everybody has the same aptitude or opportunities and they shouldn't be punished for that, not when there is plenty to go around, and there is plenty. It is shameful that we are so obsessed with what our idea of strength, success, triumph in the face of adversity is that we're willing to keep people in the mud despite having the resources to help lift people up. 

I see a lot more elderly people working in grocery stores nowadays than kids, and for most of them it's not just because they need something to do, they're trying to survive. Of course with COVID around we may not have to worry about the elderly much longer, which is even more unfortunate.

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17 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

Well neither of us are tax attorneys so I doubt either of us knows EXACTLY what they pay. However, I know it is chump change compared to what they are making as profit. Look, I'm all for people being able to be wealthy and businesses to make profit, but I also think that hording all the wealth is unsustainable for society.

You're stuck on the relatively few that in your opinion are "hoarding a profit".  As I mentioned before, there are millions who don't work for such companies. 

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16 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

So since you picked yourself up from your bootstraps everyone should be able to?

Everyone has the opportunity to.  Some have more advantages or disadvantages in trying to.

Is it fair to Jim of Jim's Burger Shack that after he built his business, he has to support those who couldn't or didn't want to do better for themselves, who are doing the job a high school student could do?

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Specializes in Hospice, Geri, Psych and SA,.
14 minutes ago, Beerman said:

Everyone has the opportunity to.  Some have more advantages or disadvantages in trying to.

Is it fair to Jim of Jim's Burger Shack that after he built his business, he has to support those who couldn't or didn't want to do better for themselves, who are doing the job a high school student could do?

Yes, it is fair. If we didn't pay it forward, no one would be able to successful except for a select few, which is basically where we're headed.

23 minutes ago, Beerman said:

You're stuck on the relatively few that in your opinion are "hoarding a profit".  As I mentioned before, there are millions who don't work for such companies. 

And like I said, I'm all for supporting small businesses. But by advocating for large corporations, doesn't that go against the interest of small businesses? 

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

Book Review - The Price of Inequality  (Stiglitz)

If you haven't read this book I highly recommend it.  It's likely available at your local library if you don't want to purchase it, that was my experience.  It is very readable and I read through it surprisingly fast.  

 

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3 hours ago, Beerman said:

Everyone has the opportunity to.  Some have more advantages or disadvantages in trying to.

Is it fair to Jim of Jim's Burger Shack that after he built his business, he has to support those who couldn't or didn't want to do better for themselves, who are doing the job a high school student could do?

About 41 million Americans live in poverty and it's going to get worse! 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/15/america-extreme-poverty-un-special-rapporteur

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