Do they deserve to live in poverty?

[Playinghardball]

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

1. Well said, and...

...as a companion idea, there is honor in all work.

[tazkcmo]

2. I work food service

I like it. I enjoy preparing delicious food for people to enjoy. I am diligent about food safety and sanitation. I give great CSR. Maybe my attitude will worsen the further into poverty I slide. Maybe I won't wash my hands so well or so often. Maybe I won't care if my cutting board was washed and sanitized after cutting that raw chicken. Maybe I'll quit caring.

[RC]

3. Once upon a time,

those were starter jobs for high school kids. Now they are first and second jobs for people with families.
Meanwhile the CEO's keep making more and more, while their employees are getting government assistance. Notice anything wrong with this picture?
And they just announce the employment numbers are looking better? Better for whom? The number cooks, cooking the numbers on the spread sheets in the back room? I would like to see the government put out the real employment numbers, broken down by age and pay scale, from CEO to new hire, every quarter. Now those would be some numbers to see. Not this cooked number of just jobs for those still actively looking. Include everyone, including unemployed and underemployed.

[Igel]

5. In lots of places they're still starter jobs.

And I know a lot of high school seniors who are working their jobs and thinking, "I could work and get my own place if I dropped out of school. Or skip college and just work."

Then they look at their pay checks and think, "Hell no!"

One student from a few years ago told her sister to go to college. She decided to barely graduate high school. Now she lives with a friend and is trying to pay for rent, food, etc., etc., on her $8/hr job. "It really sucks." And it scares those kids who can't find motivation to bother to try to do well--suddenly there's something "relevant" to their lives besides who's sleeping with whom and what's the latest app they've downloaded.

So I'm of two minds when it comes to really increasing minimum wage. To help some parents, we'd tempt kids to make really bad choices--and then be forced to either say they're responsible for the sum of their choices, even if they were fools when they made them, or deny them any responsibility for their actions (and thereby demote them to serfs).


The other group holding these jobs are those who really can't get any other kind of job. The recession encouraged illegal immigration to taper off. Making all those once-attractive $8/hr jobs into $15/hr jobs wouldn't be good.

[OnionPatch]

8. I'm of the mind

that everyone who works deserves a basic living. That means eight hours of work a day adds up to a living wage. Why should the food service sector be allowed to exempt themselves from compensating their workers because of some passé tradition? It doesn't make sense to me. Working at a fast food restaurant (or any kind of restaurant or food service) is hard work. I did it when I was younger. Your feet hurt, the work is repetitive and mind-numbing, the customers are rude..... McDonald's, for example, is a very wealthy company and can certainly afford to pay a living wage.

Also, all a "kid" has to do is work in one of those places for a few months, and living wage or no, most will be deciding to train for some other kind of work. But people not in the position to train for (or perform) other kinds of work don't deserve to be sentenced to a life of poverty.

[rrneck]

4. Okay, I'll post it.

[DonCoquixote]

7. really

"A lot of the white kids aren't all that nice, but I'll side with most of the kids from 4500 sq ft houses with two Hummers in the driveway against the poor kids for moral reasoning any day. Unless the moral reasoning involves themselves--then they're all over it. "
Then it seems you seem to favor GOP kids.

[HappyMe]

9. Yeah, that stuck out like a sore thumb.

Rich white kids are probably bigger asshats than anybody.

[CFLDem]

13. That stuck out to me, too.

Asshats come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors.

[Starry Messenger]

12. You're seriously comparing Latino and African-American kids to dogs?

Maybe you need to find another line of work.

[CFLDem]

14. I interpret it as comparing certain kids to dogs

based on the content of their character.

I think it's safe to assume we've all experienced the little psychopaths they're talking about.

[Starry Messenger]

18. He singled out kids of color and lauded the white ones.

His post was rightly hidden. Good job jury.

[Starry Messenger]

21. Welcome to DU.

It's beyond comprehension that an adult who claims to work with children would find it appropriate to refer to students of color as dogs. It would get him fired at any decent school and has no place here.

This forum has standards and isn't a trash-heap like Yahoo.

[Starry Messenger]

24. I'm a high school teacher.

LOL. You won't last long, so I'm not putting any more effort into this. Tah. Edit: Thanks MIRT.

[William769]

25. ...

Anytime.

[Starry Messenger]

26. Early Christmas!

Thanks William! Quick on the draw!

[William769]

22. Welcome to DU.

Just curious why you edited your original post. Whats beyond our pay grade?

[CFLDem]

28. I thought the post was informative. nt

[Cal Carpenter]

15. Wow

Your comment is disgusting in so many ways.

I'll leave it at that so I don't get myself in trouble.

[nomorenomore08]

17. The point is, *somebody* has to work the shitty jobs no matter what. Otherwise our society

and economy don't function. But even those at the bottom deserve a halfway decent standard of living, unless we're simply going to give up all pretense of being a First World nation...

[Laelth]

10. Hear, hear! k&r n/t

-Laelth

[treestar]

11. K&R

Right wingers are so sanctimonious and obnoxious sometimes.

[MoonRiver]

16. There but for the grace of God go I.

[nolabear]

20. I was shocked at comments on the protests here in Seattle posted on a news site.

I guess I think of this place as progressive, but I heard some of the most godawful "You don't have any skills; you don't deserve any more. Get some training and get a skilled job. Let kids who don't need the money work in those jobs" comments. Absolutely, utterly, smugly clueless. I had to leave before I went into verbal ass-whuppin' mode.