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Orrex

(63,086 posts)
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 11:23 AM Apr 2016

Just had another minimum wage argument on Facebook.

I'm always amazed at how passionate people become when they're arguing in support of their own crappy wages.

It started as another one of those "I had a stupid cashier" stories to which someone always responds "And these people want $15/hour." (Actually, I see that a lot on DU of all places, but I digress...)

He became highly agitated when I said "Yes, they deserve $15 per hour."

His argument was that, as a construction inspector, he only makes $15.20 per hour, and there's no way some damn burger flipper deserves the same amount.

I said that I agree with him, and that he should make much more, but he couldn't see it. He was simply unable to see a connection between a higher minimum wage and upward wage pressure for other earners.

Instead, he became increasingly hostile as the discussion went on, in essence growing more and more insistent that his labor is only worth whatever paltry sum his masters deign to throw his way.

This speaks of a masterful propaganda campaign, when the masters have convinced the serfs to fight for their own oppression, and they are certainly eager to do so.


As a final attempt at insult, he wrote "You probably support Sanders, don't you?" If that's an insult, then feel free to insult me 20 times a day.

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Just had another minimum wage argument on Facebook. (Original Post) Orrex Apr 2016 OP
We see this all the time in the right to work for less states. dogman Apr 2016 #1
Are you in the South? I'm in Houston, but I grew up in WI/MI. ScreamingMeemie Apr 2016 #3
No, Illinois. dogman Apr 2016 #4
As a licensed real estate appraiser, we have a joke that construction inspectors ScreamingMeemie Apr 2016 #2
LOL! Orrex Apr 2016 #5
The crab-bucket effect. Odin2005 Apr 2016 #6
Brilliantly put. Orrex Apr 2016 #8
Ask them which full time workers should live in poverty TexasBushwhacker Apr 2016 #7
Get better friends :-) REP Apr 2016 #9
This is a a strategy the very rich know well Marrah_G Apr 2016 #10

dogman

(6,073 posts)
1. We see this all the time in the right to work for less states.
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 11:28 AM
Apr 2016

I had a bil who was proud his wife had to work to pay for his health insurance. He actually felt he was superior to Union workers because he worked for less money.

ScreamingMeemie

(68,918 posts)
3. Are you in the South? I'm in Houston, but I grew up in WI/MI.
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 11:38 AM
Apr 2016

Most of my neighbors who rail about union wages don't understand them, so I pay them no mind. It's a lost cause.

ScreamingMeemie

(68,918 posts)
2. As a licensed real estate appraiser, we have a joke that construction inspectors
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 11:36 AM
Apr 2016

are among the laziest asses on earth. He SHOULD make less than the burger flipper, who often has to deal with both a shitty manager and shitty customers--not to mention really hard work during rushes. You can tell him I said that.

Orrex

(63,086 posts)
5. LOL!
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 11:45 AM
Apr 2016

That's a whole other argument to have with him, and I'm not sure who else might be watching that discussion, so I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

TexasBushwhacker

(20,044 posts)
7. Ask them which full time workers should live in poverty
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 12:56 PM
Apr 2016

First of all, raising the minimum wage to $15 will happen gradually, not overnight. By the time it's here, he will probably make more.

Nevertheless, it's not just burger flippers that make minimum wage. It's child and elder care workers. It's the people who keep our buildings clean. It's the landscapers in August. Which of these hard working people should have to live in old, crumbling housing in crime ridden neighborhoods, and having to rely on food stamps to have enough food for their children? These workers may only have high school educations, but they do necessary work. Even if a factory paying union wages opened up and hired thousands, someone still has to flip the burgers, clean the toilets and wipe Grandma's ass.

REP

(21,691 posts)
9. Get better friends :-)
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 05:00 PM
Apr 2016

Joking. I'm just unusually lucky that my friends are orchid-growing socialists.

I do not understand the anti-living-wage arguments made by people who are barely getting by. Putting more money in someone else's pocket doesn't take any from mine.

Marrah_G

(28,581 posts)
10. This is a a strategy the very rich know well
Sat Apr 16, 2016, 05:27 PM
Apr 2016

Keep people angry at those lower on the economic ladder and they will be to distracted to see the wealthy robbing us blind.

We have a country with vast resources and it is being stolen from us.

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