They will probably be getting her a job, too. I so wish she had to apply for a job at Mickey D's. Does that make me a bad person?
She has no idea; she might get through life with that elitist attitude if she has people to support her, more's the pity.
Ah, to be young and 'idealistic'?

Some folks in our society will never move up much, it's not about motivation, it's about talent, skills and opportunity. The fact is companies need workers, not everyone can work in management right? Factories need workers, food service needs workers etc. Not everyone has the ability to work in management and even if they did there will always be a limit on the number needed.

Minimum wages protect the most vulnerable people in our society, people that might not have the skills or talent to move up. People that work hard every day and do their best deserve a wage that they can live on.

Good luck with your friend, this could be a real learning experience for her so I would avoid snark etc. She is probably just naive.

Sounded snarky and I don't want to put her or any others off. I want to give them a different viewpoint and possibly change some minds.

Another discussion on Facebook a few weeks ago started about Seattle raising theirs to $15. I asked a question when another young woman was negative about it. Then a few of her Seattle based friends voiced their support of the new law and the girl admitted it made sense.

older and not worth hiring. It sucks, and it doesn't always have to do with ability.

hard to motivate when just barely getting by...


"...The glut of overqualified workers in minimum wage jobs is another piece of evidence against the common stereotype that such work is mostly done by teenagers who need to build a resume more than they need to earn an independent living. In fact, the vast majority of workers who would benefit from a minimum wage hike are adults who work to pay rent, cover hospital bills, and feed families. One in five American children has a parent in that group. Fast food workers — one of the largest subsets of minimum wage workers — are disproportionately black and female compared to the overall population...."
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/31/3420987/college-degree-minimum-wage/

http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/reich/reports/pay.htm

an increase in the minimum wage will make the difference between living in poverty and not.

Cost of living.

Doesn't seem like critical thinking is too important.

The minimum wage has many uses and benefits as well as larger effects. Among them is the reality that society doesn't really benefit from the waste of the labor force. It has little interest in seeing people being used for labor efforts whose value is so low that it can only be justified by sub-minimum wage jobs.

The south experienced this in the pre-civil war years. The cheap labor of slavery perverted the markets and caused terrible waste to the point where land was over farmed among other effects. A labor force that is so cheap that it leads to waste is dangerous to a society. It encourages underground economies. It creates a population that experiences little benefit from participating, much less engaging their societies. And it can become the basis of revolutions, especially ones that can be leveraged from external forces.

There are many other reasons and justifications for minimum wages, but this is one that is rarely discussed.

The average minimum wage earner is in her Thirties and the major breadwinner. Since working class wages have stagnated and especially since the Great Recession, it's not just teenagers on minimum wage, it's everyone and why should they have to live hand-to-mouth? Additionally, you can either have a low minimum wage or low welfare but you can't have both because if minimum wage is not enough to hold body and soul together, the state is forced to make up the difference.

Of course, I'm treating this with more dignity than it deserves because 99% of demands to not raise the minimum wage are just class resentment.

Because these employers pay their workers so little, the tax-payer ends up putting up the difference in well-fair programs and tax refunds. While it's a moral imperatove forthe gov't to be the helper of last resort for people makig less than a living wage, the correlation is that our tax-dollars are being used to subsidize these giant, hugely-profitable corporations. We are all paying so that these employers can avoid paying a decent wage for an honest day's work.