Stuff you just can't make up

Venezuela is a basket case, classic example of how not to run a country. Not sure as to how long it can continue to function as a coherent country.
We approached a liveable minimum wage 111 years ago and it works for us.
What I think is not noticed here is that our $18 AUD an hour minimum wage is about $13 USD. It was set in 1907 to provide a minimum lifestyle for a family of 5 at the standards prevailing then. So no TV, internet, take away food, white goods, designer clothes, phones and so on. In actual fact such a family, here now with one wage at that level, would be receiving various governmental supports as well. Few people are on that wage, few stay on that wage, however some do and should not be despised as we need people to do these jobs.
The two things that tend to gripe me are- That some here obviously despise those on low wage jobs, not nice people, as not everyone is a rocket scientist, not their fault. Plus the US assumption that people can be paid about $7 an hour and beg for tips to survive. Australians are notoriously poor tippers as we see it as demeaning to the recipient.

Michael Everett wrote:Although it's rather larger than normal, Venezuela has decreed a large jump in minimum wage (approx 3,500%! WTF!) but legally banned the industries from passing on the increased costs.
At least 30% of stores in Venezuela have either closed due to wage-induced-bankruptcy or are being forced to close, putting lots of people out of work and severely increasing the number of people dependent on the (virtually broke) government.

Independent Youtube reporter Tim Poole commented on it here.

Minimum wage is somewhat akin to the bottom-most rung of the career ladder and raising it makes it harder for people to get on as the employers will insist on far higher standards for the potential employees, thus effectively locking out a portion of the population. In addition, raising the minimum wage means that companies have to find some way to pay, meaning that they will raise prices to compensate, making it even more expensive to live and increasing the burden on the state.

I'm not saying that minimum wages are a bad thing, but they are something that should be approached with a great deal of caution. The surface may be simple, but the underlying complexities are rarely understood until far too late.

Daryl wrote:Once again your attitude comes through with "You don't pay some loser $40,000 a year to sweep the floor."
Why do you look down on a person doing a basic job?

My definition of a 'loser' is somebody that stays in a bottom-end unskilled job as a career.

'Raise The Minimum Wage!' is an arbitrarily imposed simplistic solution to a complex issue. It always causes problems the 'progressives' can never acknowledge, although some of us see them clearly.

Laws made by the government can't change the laws of economics any more than they can change the laws of physics. Force one change on the economy and it will cause other changes. You can't prevent that from happening. Impose a law and it will have unintended effects. Make up more laws to deal with those effects and they proliferate into an unworkable chaotic jumble.

Michael Everett wrote:Venezuela has decreed a large jump in minimum wage (approx 3,500%! WTF!) but legally banned the industries from passing on the increased costs.

At least 30% of stores in Venezuela have either closed due to wage-induced-bankruptcy or are being forced to close,

Like that. The government has passed laws that require businesses to operate at a loss. Since that is economically impossible, they go bankrupt and close. What's next, a law to prevent them from going out of business? How will it be enforced? What will be the penalty? Where will the money to operate those bankrupt businesses come from?

All the value in any economy comes from people doing productive work. More people doing productive work equals more total value equals a strong economy with available jobs, upward mobility and a high standard of living. Raise those bottom-end jobs out of reach and you wind up with a lot of people unemployed, a weakened economy, inflation, 100 people applying for each one of those scarce jobs…
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The true 'minimum wage' is always ZERO, and laws can't change that.

I give up. Not the point of the argument, but trying to get it across.
One last bite, someone who calls a person a loser because they are in a low paying job is not someone I'd get along with if I met them.

I don't feel a person is a 'looser' for being in an entry level or low end job. And certainly not for taking a job which is less than enticing, such as garbage collector or janitor.

If you're 30 years old, still live in your parents basement, work part at Burger King, all the while demanding that you get paid more to flip burgers because it's not fair that you make minimum wage to do so you're probably in my definition of a 'looser'.

If you want to make more money, improve yourself and be willing to commit to changing your life. Choose a different field to work in or a different job. There are any number of places in the US which will put you through an apprenticeship, unemployment offices will give you training to move to new job fields, etc.

It feels like the fastest growing industry down here is traineeship companies, and apprenticeship companies, and job training companies.

More a way for the government to hand funds to business than actually helping anyone.

After my time looking for work with them 20 years ago, my sisters time working for one, and some of my kids dealing with them, anyone that gets helped is more an accident than a plan.

On facebook today, I've been seeing:
"Hillary Clinton was never investigated"

What absolute cockwomble could ever say that with a straight face.

Amnesty International have asked for the Kavanaugh confirmation vote to be delayed because documents have turned up linking Kavanaugh to the Bush jnr torture decisions.

They've asked that all relevent documentation be handed over to the Judiciary committee for a proper investigation.

These are documents that the GOP have already tried hiding.

When your nominee for anything has potential human rights violations, you fucking well take the time to look properly, and publically.
What you do not do is try and hide information and block the investigation.

Guess what the GOP is doing.

Annachie wrote:Guess what the GOP is doing.

Remember when the GOP wanted to brand itself as "the party of personal responsibility"?

Yeah, neither do they.

Amazing stuff down here in Oz.

- Liberal federal and state ministers source printing to Zion
- Zion is run by a Liberal member and branch manager
- Zion has no commercial printing facilities and run out of a home
- Zion outsources printing to another printer at a 30-40% margin
- Zion donates money to liberal party

Taking rough figures here that's potentially $400K worth of taxpayers funds a year to Zion of which roughly $250K was spent on printing with another business.
Not sure how much of the "profit" was donated back to the liberal party.

Confused by your post...please elaborate.

Annachie wrote:Amazing stuff down here in Oz.

- Liberal federal and state ministers source printing to Zion
- Zion is run by a Liberal member and branch manager
- Zion has no commercial printing facilities and run out of a home
- Zion outsources printing to another printer at a 30-40% margin
- Zion donates money to liberal party

Taking rough figures here that's potentially $400K worth of taxpayers funds a year to Zion of which roughly $250K was spent on printing with another business.
Not sure how much of the "profit" was donated back to the liberal party.