If a Business Won't Pay a Living Wage, It Shouldn't Exist

[marmar]

If a Business Won't Pay a Living Wage, It Shouldn't Exist

Thursday, 08 August 2013 15:02
By The Daily Take, The Thom Hartmann Program


Last week, thousands of fast food workers from across the country walked off their jobs to demand a living wage of $15 an hour. Ever since, the Republican talking point machine has been running on all cylinders.

According to pundits on the right, giving fast food workers or any other workers, for that matter, a $7 or $8 bump to their hourly wages would cut so much into the bottom lines of “job-creators” that business owners would have to either pass the cost of a living-wage onto consumers or simply stop hiring new workers altogether.

But lost among all the noise on the right is one very, very important point: getting tax preferences and limitations on liability to do business in the United States is a privilege, not a right. It’s a privilege that we as a society offer to budding entrepreneurs and big business alike in exchange for goods, services, and jobs.

Look at it this way: when someone opens up a business, they’re entitled to all sorts of special tax breaks that most people can’t get. They can write off fancy meals; they can write off nights stayed at five-star hotels; they can write off airfare to anywhere in the world they do business, or even might do business; and they can even write off any legal expenses they incur when they get busted for breaking the law. Drug dealers who push pot can’t write off their lawyer’s fees, but drug dealers at Big Pharma, even when they lie and break the law in ways that kill people, can - all because they’re incorporated. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18065-if-a-business-wont-pay-a-living-wage-it-shouldnt-exist

[KamaAina]

1. The only problem I can see

is that McDonald's could better afford $15 right now than Joe's Cafe could. I would hate to see Joe's put out of business, but not McD's.

One figure I've seen floating around FB is $11. San Francisco is already almost there, at $10.55, and neither McD's nor Joe's has fled the city.

Then in two or three years we could go for $15.

[kelly1mm]

2. The state of Maryland has hundreds of jobs listed now for less than $10 p/h

(mostly at state parks for the summer months). Should the state of Maryland be shut down?

[99Forever]

3. Shut down?

No.

Required to pay a livable wage. Yes. Is there something too difficult for you to comprehend?

[jtuck004]

6. Hell no don't shut them down. Raise taxes on the people who have lost their jobs,

or who have had their full-time jobs replaced by lower-paying part-time work that has no benefits, on the aging population that is finding it harder and harder to generate any income. Oh, and pick up a few of the rich folks, though that won't really generate enough to put in a hat. (They should be paying their fair share, and it will do some good, but it won't be enough to fix this, because there are a ton of other expenses just as vital).

geez...think.

Oh, wait a minute, there's something about that plan...

[Dawgs]

8. OMG.

[SomethingFishy]

9. So as an example of your problem with raising the minimum wage

you decide to use a state that is paying 50% HIGHER than minimum wage?

I gotta admit, it's... clever..

[leftstreet]

4. DURec

[jtuck004]

5. Although I empathize, this leaves Amazon standing, and the 4 to 5 people (or more)

who would have taken the 4 to 5 jobs they destroy for every one they create, by hiring someone, out in the cold.

How do we fix this?

[xchrom]

7. du rec.

[Bunnahabhain]

10. This is a horrible idea

in oh so many ways.

For instance, my wife and her friend created a business to sell jewelry. They have a blast getting together to make pieces, going to shows to buy the materials, and selling them on their website. I helped them set up their own LLC, made sure they had a good accountant to do the books and ask for advice, and am happy their little enterprise brings them joy and relief from stress of their hectic day jobs. Thing is, in three years, they've never paid themselves a wage. Looks like this will be the first year revenues will exceed costs. If they had to pay each other a living wage or be put out of business, well, they would never have even started it.

Is this what we really want? This is just one quick, real life example. Don't fixate on the example think of the concept.

[SoCalDem]

11. At the core, "a business" exists to :

1. make/transport/assemble/sell a product/service that is needed by "the people"
2. provide recompense to the person who started/runs , or people who invested , to create/maintain the business

What happens next is commerce:

There are jobs to fill, and business people ALWAYS want to keep costs to a minimum, since what's left AFTER costs, is PROFIT to the owner/operator

People who own businesses are not in business to be altruists. They are in business to make money.

It's up to the community/state/federal and to regulations to ensure that , while that company is doing business, they are not endangering the employees or the community.

When a business is the ONLY one of its kind, there is always a tendency to be a bully..If this happens (and sometimes even when it does not), competitors come along to grab some of that same market.

When there are multiple companies offering the same products/services in the same area, four things can happen:
1. wages go up due to competition for good workers
2. prices go down , in hopes of keeping customers from going to the "new place"
3. quality goes down, in a vain attempt to cut costs & stay competitive/keep profits high
4. attrition takes over and some businesses close down

When workers are in unions, they have some leverage with business owners, but when there is massive joblessness, and unions have been gutted, workers are at the mercy of the owners of businesses when it comes to wages & working conditions.

Business/company owners have also morphed into a "parental/lord-and-master" role , so not only do they now just need a person to do a task in a certain time-frame, now they are also in a position to know what that person ingests off-duty, how their general health is, who their doctor is, how their money is invested for future use, etc.

The simplicity of business is long gone, and it's so much more than just doing a job and going home, and then coming back the next day to do it all over again.