State of the Union 2015
Middle class economics?
Climate Change?
Sending a man to mars? (and ending the Cuba embargo in the same speech...coincidence?)
And most importantly, are Joni Ernst and Dolores Umbridge the same person?!
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Political grandstanding to try and make Republicans look bad. This guy has zero desire to compromise with anyone.
Sorry Obama, you can't raise a family on minimum wage. It was never ment for someone to work at for their whole life.
I'm curious what % of American jobs are minimum wage. Even if everyone had the drive to "move up the ranks", I suspect that it is mathematically impossible for everyone to move from min wage to something greater?
Agreed. The greater issue is we have a too large segment of Americans working for this bare bones wage for their whole lives Vs. This being a starting and transitory wage. Increase it to $11-12 bucks and you still can't raise a family. IMO, increasing the minimum wage will simple spurr innovation and more automation.
I like Obama's community college idea, but I think learning a trade would be quicker, cheaper and better. Teach people to weld, do basic machine work, etc. Partner with growing businesses and train specifically for their needs. No need to increase the number of associate degree holders. We already have an army of women's lit majors working at Starbucks.
Politically, great speech. The call out on Keystone was priceless.
The percentage of the workforce actually earning minimum wage is tiny. In my view the minimum wage needs to be abolished entirely. It skews wages downward. It puts many jobs at a wage ceiling, people love to act like it creates a floor but in reality that is a load of horse shit. As a business owner it allows me to artificially make jobs minimum wage when in reality the skill set required for that job are likely 20 % higher. But since the market has an artificial stimuli it allows me to skew the wages for that job downward. It also negatively impacts those whose jobs require them to intermingle with jobs that in reality should pay less than the minimum wage but can't because of law. So the people who work these less skill and demand jobs are taking money from those who work a more skill and higher demand job. I thought the Democrats were about fairness. What about being paid fairly for the job you do, not making results equal.
Please explain this further.
Lets say I have jobs A B and C at my company. Job A requires skill set 1 that in a non regulated market would demand $10/hour. Job B requires skill set 2 that in a non regulated market would demand 7.50/hour and job C that requires skill set 3 that would in the same unregualted market demand $5/hour. To simplify the numbers min wage in this example is going to be $7.50 per hour. In the regulated market all three jobs would now be equal paying jobs of $7.50 per hour. Budgets don't change because of minimum wage, budgets change when revenues change. Now lets say I am in a competitive market place and am competing against companies who are in better financial situations than I am. They can afford to pay those who do job A $10/hour while I can only afford to pay them $7.50/hour. Those employees of mine who do job A will leave for higher wages and employees B and C will be left with out any work because there is no one left to do job A. This creates a surplus of people qualified to do job A B and C. When the labor force adjusts to this new supply the demand for workers A B and C will drop thus will their wages. What level will the drop stop at? Yep, minimum wage. So what happens here is that business close, wages are suppressed due to having to pay less qualified people the same as more qualified people, and unemployment rises.
People are for the most part too stupid to realize that they are replaceable. The sad part about it is the most replaceable people are the ones at the bottom who also happen to be the dumbest.
The minimum wage ought' to be abolished, as it was always meant to be a transitory form of employment and not meant to allow a permanent living wage. If businesses have to hand out more cash to its employees, it has to make up for the lost profit somewhere: the business raises the cost of its goods. Therefore, you increase the minimum wage, and you increase the basic cost of goods and cause inflation. So nobody would be "moving up the ranks" - the value of the dollar would just be decreased in accordance with how much more money they get.
Free community college isn't really free at all. I don't know how long it'll take for people to realize that, when the government offers free things, everyone is paying for it through taxes.
The Cuban embargo should be lifted because it inhibits the free markets from flowing as they should, Cuba is getting more capitalist and less oppressive, and Cuba poses virtually no threat so it's not even necessary anymore.
@"NickW1" There have been numerous studies about price of goods vs. minimum wage. For every $1 minimum wage is increased, price of goods goes up $0.10.
Why does community college need to be free? If someone wants to go to college but can't afford it there are already so many scholarship programs in place if they just apply themselves a little in high school. Why can't it judt be politically acceptable to let people who don't want to make something of themselves drown?
How does making community college free make it any different from becoming the 13th and 14th grade?
Speech was, per usual with him, something that sounded great deliver-wise, but the content is horseshit.
Capital gains to 28%? Unreal.
The community college idea is insane, we can't fucking afford this. Where do you suppose the money is going to come from? It's not free, of course. It's our money. Estimated cost is $60 billion, and I've never seen a government project that didn't spend far more than it was supposed to.
Minimum wage should absolutely be abolished, it's causing all types of problems.
The number of people trying to raise a family on a single minimum wage job is so incredibly small, that argument is insane and statistically irrelevant.
All the terrible colleges in the US can serve as the "community colleges". The current community colleges should be turned into trade schools to train people in useful skills.
No surprise. Obama once again offered free shit to people via higher taxes on the successful.
+1
About 3.3 million people (4.3%) of the 75.9 million total hourly workers are at/below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 (2013 figures). BUT, the study did not include (in the 3.3 mil figure) the number of workers at/below state minimum wage in 23 states.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/
My take is that people are making financial decisions that simply are not responsible. Should people be having kids if they are not in a good financial position? I understand many things can/do happen (employment-wise) after having kids, but I was just curious on what people think about that?
People should always plan ahead, but to say you're too poor to have kids probably wouldn't go over well with the general public. It's not like saying you're too young.
What do people think about his words on climate change and keystone oil? I thought the republican response calling it the "keystone jobs bill" was a little tacky.
Here is the donkey in the room. Want to boost wages for the lowest earners? Stop encouraging illegal immigration. Supply, meet demand. You increase the supply of unskilled workers then employers can pay lower wages in aggregate to those in the lowest earning brackets.
Democrats want both mass immigration AND higher wages. The only way they can realize this is by encouraging mass illegal immigration while forcibly raising wages. Call the Tea Party what you want, but their position is the only logically consistent position--enforce immigration laws and wages will rise for the lowest earners. Make pro-American public policy, not pro-foreigner public policy. That's not xenophobic--that's what representatives of the people SHOULD do (represent their own nations' and districts' interests), and that's what elected representatives do in most other democracies/republics.
Illegal immigration hurts poor, uneducated and largely black workers trying to do better. I'd rather pay a marginally educated America 10 bucks an hour than bring in people from other countries to work for slave labor wages.
Illegal immigration is a travesty both parties endorse.
All of the hand wringing over the speech is a bit unnecessary. It's not like Obama will get any of these measures through Congress. More or less it was about defining the next election.
Illum ex cum voluptas magni atque enim. Ipsam saepe eius ex inventore. Qui dignissimos est voluptas ut officiis error.
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