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Well folks, it's been a while since we addressed a REAL American Deadly Sin, hasn't it? Well say no more, because you've been duly updated on yet another subject that "grinds my gears."
Let's do this in two parts, just to make sure we don't cross wires, OK? Let's start with my favorite, the all-American "Minimum Wage."
Now, I'm sure that the majority of America is well aware that what we're being paid, often the lowest wage possible, is by no means what the average citizen of this country needs to survive. And they wonder why theft is such a problem these days. Hate to tell ya, it's not because drug use and abuse is an issue...although that contributes, surely. No, the problem is that corporate greed (one of our more deadly sins, as should be quite obvious by now) and the profit line cuts off any chance we have of making what we're worth. Neither here nor there, the minimum wage has not only not ever been what it should be, nor, does it look like it ever will be. I think we all know that this is because the more a business has to pay us, the less a business makes.
Lobbyists against higher minimum wages should, in this writer's opine, all be shot. Their argument is that if the minimum wage gets raised, businesses will collapse, and jobs will be lost. This is, of course, a half-truth. Businesses collapse and jobs are lost every single day of the week, so tell us something we don't know, willya?
The real deal is, that businesses, especially small ones, start out with this grand scheme based on pretty much nothing, and the owners of these businesses usually have dollar signs in their eyes, thinking all they have to do is pluck profits off the money tree, not really thinking through the actual facts...that A. They'll either have to put in countless hours into their businesses and do all the work themselves for a while to save money, or B. That they'll have to hire employees, if the business's demands for their product gets to be too much for them to handle all by themselves. Regarding fact A, this really only works until fact B becomes an issue. Now we have to involve employees, whether one more or many...and that's when all the fun really begins, because now we have to insure our business considering them as well, we have to pay them, we have to cater to their needs, we have to include them on our taxes, and most of all, we have to benefit them enough, to ensure that they don't leave. The problem these days, is that no one cares if their employees leave anymore, mostly because there are 1000's of unemployed people standing right behind them, dying to take their spots. What the pay and the benefits package is really doesn't appear to matter to most Americans anymore either, mostly because they're just so damned happy to be working again, it doesn't factor into your new job...at least for a time, anyway.
Just for example, let's talk about the minimum LIVING wage. Now we all know that the "minimum wage" doesn't reflect today's real cost of living. People are fighting to have the minimum raised, mostly because it just HAS to be! No one can live on the minimum...worse yet, minimum is what most businesses PAY. The more they pay, the less profits they make, and WHOOP, there go your chances of turning out public stock later on. Bend over and kiss your own owner's behind, because next year, it's likely that you'll be filing to receive capital losses on your next H&R Block tax return.
The current living wage SHOULD be nearly $12.00/hour for the menial of the menial, let's not even TALK about educated executives and the like...and here we are, arguing to have the minimum raised to $9 and $10/hr. This is ludicrous people. Stop thinking about your own profits, and think instead about your employees and THEIR families. More so, instead of bitching about your high turnovers, think instead that, quite possibly, you're not paying your employees enough.
My take on this is that you should think about the fact that, if you can't pay your employees enough, maybe you shouldn't be in business to begin with, because it's likely that you either A. Didn't do enough market research to see if there was actually a real demand for your services/products; B. Don't charge enough for your services/products, or C. Are too lazy to put the required effort into making sure your business grows...or even remains open, for that matter. If you aren't able to pay your employees what they're worth...or even just enough to make sure they stay alive themselves, then its time you closed your doors and re-think your business strategies.
If you're still having a problem with those high dollar salary figures, maybe you should consider this instead: Well-paid employees = less turnover. Less turnover = lower training costs for new employees, who will probably leave too because you offer no real pay/benefits. Moreover, well-paid/benefited employees = more productive employees, which = better business, better products and better profit lines. BUT NOOOOOOOO.....no, we may have to lower our standards, and get an Audi instead of a Rolls Royce. Gimme a break, will ya?
I turn to a good prime example, my former kingdom's bus service, in Des Moines, Iowa, DART. (The Des Moines Regional Transit Authority...by the by, how does this even come close to DART for an acronym??) Now, DART, even though it has made a couple of leaps and a couple of bounds, where paying their employees, running now on Sundays and getting new buses are concerned, has traded these new beneficial improvements off for a couple of things essential to any business...service, in general, and customer service. For one, they still don't use printed tickets, something that every city I've been to BESIDES Des Moines, has. Monthly bus passes are still 1st day until last day of the month, not from the printed date you first use it. They also aren't able to offer those planning to truck all over the city on just one day of the month (mostly done by those on limited fixed incomes like disability and social security), a printed daily bus pass (where you can ride the bus unlimited on any chosen day.) Even worse, they cover MAYBE a third of the entire metro area, where only those without cars reside. Sure, this makes sense when you consider the price of driving buses empty through neighborhoods countless times, but does nothing for increasing the feasibility of taking the bus as opposed to every member of your family taking their own personal cars wherever they go. And customer service, are you NUTS?? The CORNERSTONES of any business is service and customer service. And when it comes time to raise the rates again, things will only get worse. Customers will opt instead to go back to driving their own cars (against any logical thought, mind you), and bus service will then decrease once again, causing even less to take the bus. Less bus service = less happy riders who will stop being riders, and...either cost some drivers their jobs, or which may cause a lowering of their pay rates, or worse yet, may cause less full-time positions, and more part-time positions. WHICH...just happens to bridge me into the other glaring problem we Americans are facing in our work-happy environment, the discrimination against those who go "part-time, or who are only hired as such.
Now, I just gotta say this, this is probably the part of what has happened to this country's employed portion just falls apart. Since it has been ruled (long ago) that part-time employees are, somehow, inferior to those who opt for full-time torture, employers are no longer required to cater to these lower forms of life, like they do to their more permanent fixtures. Employees that turn in hours of 32 or less hours a week are now all deemed to be "Part-Time" employees, who often get no benefits whatsoever, or partial benefits that they often have to pay for themselves.
Worse than this, employers have now figured out (more recently) that part time staff is the way to go now. No more full-time employees sucking at your profit lines by demanding they get raises, demanding paid for healthcare, paid for parking, etc. No more having to compete for benefits offerings. More so, you won't have to pay these part-timers nearly as much unemployment benefits (even though these workers paid for their own unemployment benefits...go figure.) Finally, you won't have to pay these people like you do your full-timers. Win-Win-Win, right? YEAH...FOR YOU!!
What has happened now, America, is that no one wants a full-time employee anymore...meaning we all have to not only get 2 or 3 part-time jobs to survive, and we now have to pay for all of our own benefits, out of our own pockets. Not only that, we have to juggle our already way too busy and stressful lives around these due to be absurd work schedules. Finally, and most importantly, no one has to pay anyone anything close to what they're worth, or worry about retirement for these part-timers coming out of your profits in upcoming years.
Competition in offering benefits to employees? PSHAW...not needed. America's jobless and homeless populations, bogged down from getting jobs because of unrealistic background checking, let alone the massive countless unemployed out there, all looking for work, will take whatever they can get, wherever they can get it, doing whatever it is they're asked to do.
America, if these issues are not addressed, capitalism and the free market will very soon be dead...but then, maybe that's what we need...or, quite possibly, maybe this is what big business, and the government that shakes their hands and gives them bail-out money to save them is really shooting for, huh? Check into it. Raise the minimum wage to what it SHOULD BE. Don't let these monsters get away with this shit, talk to your legislators, and let them know how you really feel, before you have to move again, because of the raise in the living wage. Ask for what you deserve...and if you can't get it, TAKE IT. :D
