How can we ensure that every hard working legal resident of the U.S. gets a decent living wage?

Question

And in doing so, can we still retain the capitalistic and entreprenurial spirit that sets this country apart from every other?

Answer 1

Don't support companies that don't treat workers well or provide them with fair compensation and health insurance (i.e. Wal-Mart). The only way to influence business without impeding capitalism (which I support fully) is for the consumer to voice their opinion. How? It's all about who you give your money to.

Answer 2

Airhead - if for some reason you are actually able to survive on min. wage right now without ANY help from your parents, or going into debt from student loans, then give yourself a year or two and watch the situation change.

Accident pants - you clearly don't understand the impact one's environment has on their fate.

Fantastic question.

People would have to value other people as much as money. The media's ridiculous celebration of wealth is a major reason this will never happen. Another is the media's (especially tv's) lack of caring about anything humane. The bottom line is, our values would have to change.

The capitalistic and enterpenurial spirit you speak of is nice to a degree, but it's too much, and it makes people cutthroat and selfish. We don't have to eliminate it entirely, but it needs to be encouraged much less.

I guess what I'm really getting at is, do our economic differences make us better, or worse than other countries, and would a lessening of our capitalistic spirit make us less original?

Personally, I think it's our culture that sets us apart, and I don't think altering our economic practices, or reducing our greed would affect that.

A cap on what a person could earn in a year, like a high enough one to keep one ambitious, but a somewhat reasonable limit, would take a lot of wealth out of the hands of the few, and put it into the hands of the many, hopefully (this is a guess, I clearly know nothing about economics), making a substantial raise in minimum wage possible in some roundabout way.

The only way anyone who could earn a giant amount of money would compromise any of it, as in allowing a law to pass, would be if we valued things differently. That's why I think it starts with the media, since they really do influence our thinking, values, and opinions beyond our comprehension. Sure, it's school to a degree, but the media has the real power. But then, television stations are making money so why would they want to change their programming? There's the real catch 22.

Answer 3

The only way to make it so that every hard working legal resident of the United States can afford a decent living would be by changing to a communist government, where everyone is taken care of equally. In the capitalistic society in which we live, this is just not possible. They basically go by the "every man for himself" idea. Our government thinks that you should have to work hard in order to earn anything. However, just as in most governments, the working man gets nothing. You have to be something more than many people can be to get by in America. Therefore, to allow everyone a decent living, we would need to adapt a communist government. Everyone still has to work in such government, but you are guaranteed a paycheck that will allow you a decent life.

Answer 4

We can't ensure a decent living wage. This countries been bought and sold to big business.
Our government could care less about hard working residents.

Politicians have been bought off by big business with donations and campaign contributions. And when that crooked politician gets elected then it's pay back time for the one's who helped get you to the top.

That means big business and they sure as hell don't want to pay their workers what their worth.

Of course since Bush has been in office American jobs have pretty much gone over sea's. And now Bush wants to destroy unions with the N.A.U. Mexican workers will be driving the trucks that deliver goods from China and India. Thanks Bush

Answer 5

If what George Will said has any merit, that all politics is local, we must begin at the bottom, local governments. it would be rough for every community in the U.S. to ask the national government to design a national work plan. What industry would be utilized to support such an effort, the defense industry !

We on Long Island, NY, have strongly advocated a racetrack for thoroughbreds and standardbreds under a Suffolk County Sports and Exposition Authority/Commission. Because of the resistance from strong companies and lobbyists who, literally, have most if not all, Republican and Democratic elected officials in their pocket, the project to build the racetrack has been dismissed. It's called corruption and both political parties are in on it.

Where there would be thousands of jobs, both on and off of the racetrack for thoroughbreds and standardbreds owned and operated by Suffolk, there is welfare.

Where there would be millions of dollars in property tax savings from the cash flow of a racetrack for thoroughbreds and standardbreds, there is tremendous stress upon every homeowner to come up with the thousands of dollars every year in property taxes.

In New York, the Suffolk County Legislature stinks of corruption.

Make the elected officials of any community responsible to the voters and not react to whoever has them in their pocket. Shout, send letters to the editor of local newspapers, take up petitions, and be active at every level of any and all organizational work within your community and make your voice heard. Somebody, somewhere will listen...

Great question...

Answer 6

Communists government? lol the popeye guy clearly knows nothing about politics or economics. The simple fact is that every working American is entitled to a fair wage for thier labor. Fair means that they shouldnt have to work 50 + hour weeks just to make ends meet!

Employers should also provide healthcare for free or at least pay thier employees enough to buy thier own health insurance. Delisional republicans think that if you force corporate giants like Wal-Mart to pay a liveable wage, they would have to raise prices in order to pay thier workers more. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Walmart has consistently boosted profits in to the 2 billion dollar range -QUARTERLY! For you non-economics experts thats a 4 month period. There is no way a company can say they cant afford to pay employees at least $11.00/hour and minimum medical coverage and still keep prices low. If you call yourself a true patriot who believes that American workers should be treated right then you have to agree that the Federal Minimum Wage must be raised. Currently it is at $5.15 an hour. How can a person working fulltime afford to even feed a dog on that? If you claim that your about family values, then shouldnt you value an American family's ability to eat?

I beleive that if the federal minimum wage is raised then it will in turn force states to make employers pay a liveable wage. When i think of how much my fellow American workers are being exploited it makes it real hard for me to feel proud of my country. But i will still love my America and hold my head high because i know that there are many people out there just like me who will read this and become infuriated at what is going on and try to do something about it. The best thing you and i can do is to start pressuring our local politicians to take the fight for better wages to D.C.. Its time we made these politicians remember who they really work for. Im referring to both republican and democratic leaders because both parties have individuals who are guilty of being corporate whores!

Forcing a better minimum wage in our country will not hurt entreprenurial competetiveness for 2 main reasons:
1. fortune 500 companies pay alot in taxes but they dont pay enough taxes relative to thier income- they hire lawyers and accountants to exploit every loophole and most politicians are afraid to enforce a fair tax on thier primary campaign contributors. If we leave the taxation the way it is now but demand higher wages from these guys then then american business will still continue to flourish.
2. With all the possible things that could ruin a fortune 500 company such as acts of god, economic downturn, competition from foreign companies, etc, we see that the ultimate factor in running a company into the ground is bad executive leadership and dishonesty (see: Enron, Tyco, WorldCom).
What do you think?

Answer 7

In order to do that you have to create jobs. You need to create incentives for all businesses to want to do business in the United states. I can tell you what won't create jobs. Heavily taxing the Corporations will only make them leave. The same reason that French is losing all their millionaires. They are taxing the hell out of them. Like it or not, people want to make money and some will always make more than others. That's life. A poor man will never give you a job. The government gets the return on their tax from your wages earned.

Answer 8

You can't ensure it, and you should not try to. It is up to the individual to make him/herself worth what they are paid. It is not my responsibility nor the government's to do this for someone else.

If you are being paid poorly then get a better job, if you are not qualified to get a better job then get qualified.

Every time you raise the minimum wage you cause people to lose jobs and you cause the prices of the cheapest goods to increase. If you want 8$ meals at McDonalds and 30% higher prices at Walmart (or 30% less staff) then go ahead and raise the minimum wage, either way you hurt the people you are supposedly trying to help.

Answer 9

Yes, I saw the news, and Sarkozy had promised to the french voters that he would send back all the foreigners who do crimes! If you are not guilty of a crime, you have no problem staying there. But if you are illegal, he will send you back ( not only you, also the 200 000 illegal workers in France)... You have 4 possibilities to convince him not to send you back : - You become a successfull footballer, and French Federation wants you and obtains you to be naturalized as French citizen. - You have a high level diploma, such aeronautics,chemics, etc, which is necesarry to french economy. - You marry a French girl - You win the lottery and immediatley buy a house in France,and then they can't send you back anymore( because you would be home owner) Good luck, my friend! Take care... Onno, an Armenian of Istanbul...

Answer 10

Encourage Walmart to build a store everywhere possible. Eliminate capital gains tax, the death tax and cut income taxes even more. Give people vouchers to send their kids to better schools so they learn to read, write and do math. Then they can get better jobs. Encourage small business growth through tax incentives. Loosen environmental restrictions to allow our oil compmanies to drill in our own country so that in a few years more oil will flood the market and the price will drop. Pay down our foreign debt and reverse our trade deficit.

Answer 11

A minimum wage of$ 9 to $10 would help.