Comment by DrSinker — July 24, 2006 @ 5:09 pm

Someone has to be waitresses or waiters!! I love how people look down on the people who “serve” them. If the majority of people in this country actually tipped the standard 15% then wait staff would certainly make more than minimum wage. Some think that certain jobs are beneath them, but as I said before, someone has to do it. That would suck if you spent a wad of money on college, but couldn’t find employment in your field of study and then had to take a low paying job. Luckily alot of low income peole don’t have to worry about paying off student loans!!

But this statement:

I shudder at the thought that people who plan on waiting tables for an extended period actually plan on being able to raise kids.

can best be described as callous. My wife’s been a waitress for 40 years, but she never planned on doing it that long. It’s an honorable vocation, and she always planned on raising kids, and she did raise 2 of them—-quite well I might add. I would like DrStinker to know that she never made minimum wage as a waitress. She made less, much less. Tips make up most of the income for a waiter.

I see katy already made these points (#20). Not only do people need good wait people, they expect it. My wife does feel…humiliated is way too strong a word….but there is an element of degradation. Many people treat waitresses like servants and tip poorly on top of it. A waiter or waitress is always in a subservient position, moreso than somebody in the ladies’ department or even a counter person at McDonald’s. They are very underpaid, in my opinion, mainly because people expect food to be cheap. A lot of people, not just waiters, are underpaid because of this odd expectation.

#16 – Your point is one that needs to be made in the media and on the stump. The obvious proof that companies can afford to pay more than the minimum is that with the gains in productivity, the companies have profited more and have kept all of it. Why? because they can.

#47 – Don’t waste your breathe. Grandpa Seth & his ilk always have to have it both ways. Otherwise, they have to use logic.

Unless you think that there’s an economic rationale to their position other than impovershing as many people as possible. All the pseudo-economic jive about small businesses and unemployment rates is just public relations.

After Ben and Jerry went public, they wanted to hire a new CEO followint their 7x rule. They searched for two years and gave up because no qualified person would work for so little money.

To which I say congress needs to pass a law mandating that Executives can not be paid more than 7x the lowest employee. I suspect that pay increases would take place instantly if their salaries were based on their employees wages…

So here’s a question. If raising the minimum wage will not cause businesses to reduce employment, what happens to the increased costs born by these businesses? We all pay for it in increased prices. We can fool around with wages all we want, but it will just filter through in prices. So why not leave the market alone, and help those who can’t earn enough money in some other way, such as already existing welfare programs, or by sending them to school? I’m just trying to throw out an alternate solution, not trying to be argumentative.

Whoa! Ron, you’re making too much sense for these simple minds. Wages are based on supply and demand. When the demand for labor exceeds the supply, wages will go up. My point is, simply raising the minimum wage does not move people out of poverty if the price of everything else goes up with their wages. Real wage increases occur when people obtain better skills, get more technical training and earn college degrees. I realize that most of the inflation these days is tied to the price of gas but if we could build more refineries, have fewer than 30 grades of gas, allowed to drill in Anwar and offshore, the price would go down, but thank a liberal for that.

you would think that a higher minimum wage would ease some of the pressure on property taxes

Remember, Liberals DIED for your RIGHT to:
8 hour work days
2 days off (the weekend is a Liberal invention)
Paid vacations
Pension
Health insurance provided by employer
Protection from random and discriminatory hiring/firing
and of course
Decent pay

These things are just as sacred as America and our Flag.

poor people do NOT need more money because they will only spend their money on marijuana and colt 45…

kisses,

ann