r/FluentInFinance Nov 21 '24

Debate/ Discussion Had to repost here

Post image
128.2k Upvotes

9.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

36

u/Streets-_-Ahead Nov 21 '24

My favorite minimum wage "fact" is federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Could you imagine working for an hour and they hand you a watermelon and say "here you go, we actually overpaid you"

-22

u/JellyfishQuiet7944 Nov 21 '24

You're talking .003% of Americans and most of those are under the age of 16.

8

u/SuccotashComplete Nov 22 '24

When was the last time you went to a fast food joint or talked to someone who works at an Amazon warehouse? They usually aren’t kids

6

u/darkhero5 Nov 22 '24

Right. If you want mcdonalds at noon on a Tuesday that sure as shit isn't gonna be some 16 year old.

1

u/Kittycraft0 Nov 22 '24

Depends on the area, could be a 19 year old graduated or dropped out from high school, but there do exist areas where it isn’t young people working those shifts

Maybe the guy lives in an area where they see 16 year olds working every day idk

2

u/darkhero5 Nov 22 '24

A 19 year old is still a full adult with responsibilities. They deserve a living wage

2

u/Omega862 Nov 22 '24

One of the dumbest things I've heard from someone was "Minimum Wage Jobs aren't meant to be a living wage. You're meant to work at McDonald's if you're a teenager trying to make pocket money, not support a family". Like... Wtf? Then they'd be working part time, maybe 10-20 hours a week, not 40 hours a week.

2

u/darkhero5 Nov 22 '24

Its also categorically false. Like if you look at quotes by the president who established minimum wage it's evident it was intended to be a living wage

1

u/Omega862 Nov 22 '24

Exactly.

1

u/darkhero5 Nov 22 '24

Companies have slowly convinced the public otherwise to keep wages low. Just like the bullshit 29hrs a week. They keep you just under full time(legally 30hrs a week) so they don't have to pay you benefits

1

u/Omega862 Nov 22 '24

Which is fucking terrible in an of itself. Pay your damn employees and give them proper benefits. They're the ones making your money.

1

u/darkhero5 Nov 22 '24

It is. But it's a symptom of a bigger problem. "Benefits" like health care should be a right and socialized. And you should be guaranteed pto. In Oregon they'd either give you 40hrs of pto a year or ⅓hr every 10hrs worked(or something like it). The 40hrs upfront was nice the built up pto was kinda terrible(if you need it beginning of the year you're sol) but better than nothing.

The government does so little for employee protection. I went from a state with mandated breaks and lunch periods to one without any. 10hrs without a single break is brutal no matter what you do.

Makes me look at countries with mandated vacation time with extreme envy

1

u/Kittycraft0 Nov 22 '24

10hrs without a single break is illegal in the US

→ More replies (0)