I believe in a living wage
And nothing in life entitles you to one. Your "rights" can't infringe on anyone else's rights. Period. You want to work a job that pays you money, you're not entitled to any job or the pay that said job compensates. You want a living wage then learn the skills and have the work ethic to EARN THAT WAGE. Otherwise, get the fuck out of the way.
It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.
And thankfully, people like you won't have their way in this country in the near future. Every single thing you enjoy, and I mean absolutely everything, you enjoy because of some business minded individual building, risking, and succeeding, and if they pay bare minimum wage, THAT'S THEIR RIGHT. Just as it's YOUR right 1) not to work there and 2) not to buy their products or services.
That was actually a quote about minimum wage from the guy who championed it... It's what minimum wage was supposed to be. Back in the 70s, the Republicans started pushing your message and people just went with it rather than fighting for what the government had already given them. I'd imagine there'd be fewer people living in poverty had the ideals that came out after WW2 not been squashed by the capitalists.
A living wage should be the bare minimum, but it needs to vary by location to match local cost of living.
đź’Ż
Hell yeah, let's tear down the bourgeoisie
Too bad, conservatives believe everyday laborers should starve and suffer.
The poorest people seethe the hardest at this for some reason
Intelligent people do
I don’t get it. Do you mean minimum wage? That’s not supposed to be livable that’s something to get experience and get started.
That’s a lie. Minimum wage was created to be a living wage. People who work entry level jobs still need the basics so they can survive and continue to provide their labor. Do you expect people who are “getting started” to survive in a cardboard box or starving?
There’s financial aid systems that are not only available but exploited across the country. If you can’t find a way to survive better than a cardboard box that’s on you. I made less than $10 an hour at my first job and knew I’d be working my way up the ladder. Not complaining that my first job paid little when I had no skills to give them reasons to pay me more.
Minimum wage was absolutely meant to create a basic wage floor, not a “teen starter wage.” FDR literally argued that businesses paying less than a living wage had no right to continue. The Fair Labor Standards Act created the federal minimum wage to protect workers and set basic labor standards. And saying “financial aid exists” is not a defense of low wages. That just means employers underpay people and then taxpayers, charities, families, and public assistance programs are expected to cover the gap. That’s not personal responsibility; that’s corporate welfare. Why do you believe that others should have to subsidize business labor?
Alright
I hate that this is a hot take
All over the world for all of modern history this was a completely reasonable take . Only once in the 20th century and again under MAGA is this “controversial”
absolutely
I'd go even further and say that I believe in a thriving wage
Have you tried getting a job that matters
Have you tried understanding that every job matters to the person who needs its paycheck AND the employer who NEEDS the labor? A job doesn’t become undeserving of a living wage because you personally don’t respect it.
That's not how the market works. It's supply and demand and if you owned a business you'd understand that
The market only “works that way” because taxpayers subsidize businesses that refuse to cover the cost of their own labor. If a small grilled cheese business can pay living wages and still expand, “the market” clearly doesn’t make poverty wages inevitable. Why should you and I keep paying to sustain someone else’s workforce? Labor is a business expense. Why is covering that expense everyone’s responsibility except the employer’s?
Then you probably don't have a job or money.
Weird conclusion. I have a full time state job and a paid off house. I just don’t think other people should have to be desperate before they deserve a living wage.
Who don’t!
Bootlickers
Depends on if you have a gag reflex or not
Living wage is great it's just that the cost of everything has gotten out of hand and a living wage now is more than the work is worth
Not true. Wages have not kept up with cost of living OR productivity. It should be the employer’s responsibility to sustain their labor force, not others to make up the difference
So you agree that the cost of things has gotten out of hand. But you think that employers should just pay more to compensate for it. While I would love to make more money I think that lowering costs is a more sustainable approach than trying to raise everyone's wage. Especially since record profits(creating value for the shareholders) is a company's primary directive since the dodge vs Ford lawsuit back in the 70s.
We should address housing, healthcare, childcare, and other inflated costs and require employers to pay enough for the labor they use. Until costs actually fall, workers still have bills now and shifting the gap onto taxpayers and charities is not a fair solution. Also, Dodge v. Ford was decided in 1919, not the 1970s, and it did not create a universal legal command that every company must maximize short-term shareholder profits at any cost. Legal scholars specifically dispute that broad interpretation. The data also contradict the claim that labor simply became “worth less.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that productivity and worker compensation have increasingly diverged since the 1970s, meaning workers have produced MORE without receiving proportional gains. Corporate after-tax profits, meanwhile, reached an annualized $3.9 trillion in early 2026. So yes: lower excessive costs. But “things are expensive” is not a logical excuse for employers to pay workers too little to a…
Is this what they mean when they say money talks?
I once believed that Joanie loved Chachi
That’s some funny shit haha
That's antisemitism
How
The jews don't want to pay their workers.
That’s antisemitism
I also believe in EARNING a living wage through skills that are PRODUCTIVE and USEFUL to society. Making a $7 cup of coffee is counterproductive to society as a whole.
"nObOdY wAntS tO wOrK ANyMorE" this guy when he has to wait more than 2 mins for a cup of coffee
Anyone who works full time should be earning a living wage.
If making coffee is so useless, stop buying it. But if a business needs that labor to function, then that labor is productive. Full-time workers should not need public subsidies or second jobs just to survive.
So work hard and get one it’s not going to just be handed to you
I believe a living wage should be the starting point. Why do you believe people should work hard for the privilege of barely living paycheck to paycheck?
Then work for one
I do. Believing everyone who works full time should earn enough to live isn’t a complaint about my own job; it’s called having principles beyond myself.
People are working for a living. The problem is the employer refuses to sustain their labor force