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For those living in a metropolitan city, $7.25 may feel like a small snack and a drink at best, but for many Americans, this is the reality of the federal minimum hourly wage.

The amount has been exactly the same since 2009, so no wonder that boosting it to $15/h became one of the Biden administration’s priorities. "No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty," he announced previously.

But right now, Biden is facing resistance in Congress as he acknowledged that the proposal will likely have to be omitted from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus financial relief plan. And while raising the wage would reduce the number of people in poverty and increase the pay for 27M workers, it will likely increase the federal budget deficit.

Many Americans are feeling cheerful about the prospect, but some are less than impressed. Armed with somewhat questionable arguments, the critics took it to Twitter to share why they don’t want the long-awaited increase of average minimum pay to happen.

#1

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Hans
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The sad thing is that she defends that it is is fine to live of peoples' backs for a slightly lower price. The same rationale exploits Bangladeshi women who make cheap apparel or mean from Ghana who scavenge Western electronic garbage.

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A.M. Pierre
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait, so you mean if someone works every waking minute then that should give them enough money to afford the basic necessities of life? That’s insanity!! /s 🙄

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The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour and it has stayed the same since 2009, making it an unlivable income in most parts of the US. In late January, Democrats introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 by 2025.

But the White House acquiesced to a Senate parliamentarian's ruling that a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour could not be included in the Covid-19 relief bill working through Congress. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, on whom 27M workers rely right now, promised to not give up and try again.

Vermont also Sen. Bernie Sanders stated on Friday: “If anybody thinks that we're giving up on this issue, they are sorely mistaken," and added: "If we have to vote on it time and time again, we will and we're going to succeed. The American people understand that we cannot continue to have millions of people working for starvation wages."

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Ripley
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm really struggling with how packing boxes is more "skilled" labour than working as a fry cook.

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elStiJneriNO
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i think he confuses "skilled" with "i got an explanation on how to do this"

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Philly Bob Squires
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cooking isn't skilled?? Bull! Takes more skill to make a meal than to seal a box.

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Jamma
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is the problem - the lowest tier infighting protects the bosses who are laughing all of the way to the bank. The shippers and the cooks need to realize they are on the same team. The power that will result once we (because it is WE - I don't think there are any bazillionaires on BP) realize that and actually work together, we will have the 1% shitting in their pants.

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TrashPandaSociety
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Keep the rich rich and keep the poor poor. Yes, we could change the world but we're too busy being separated from each other.

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Ivana
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everyone is so upset that someone at McDonalds could make what they make. If you labor is truly worth more than that of someone working at McDonalds then congratulations, you have a really great bargaining chip when you go to your boss and tell them you need a raise or you are going to work at McDs. If they don't give you a raise, then go take that "easy" job working fast food where everyone in the world treats you like s**t and you are expected to smile through it.

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Id row
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Putting stuff in boxes is skilled labor? That is f*cking funny.

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Jessica
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think calling it Skilled labor requires it to be an actual skill like knowing how to do something that isn't common knowledge. I really don't think boxing things requires that much more skill than giving me delicious breakfast biscuits.

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BG
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you can train someone to do your job within a week, then you are not "skilled labor".

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The Redhead
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe people should be able to support themselves on min wage. What I hate about minimum wage being raised is the corporate companies don't want to lose a penny so they raise the price of necessity such as food, and they cut employees hours. That should be illegal.

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Typical US things...defending low wages by slightly higher wages that you make, i.e. instead of siding with people that are in the same boat blaming them instead of those who exploit also YOU!

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Bacony Cakes
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't get trapped in the warehouse! Your corpse costs more to remove than your perceived value!

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Eglė Bukauskaitė
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

packing boxes is a skilled job?... As far as i'm concerned a cook or a chef is the one who HAS to learn the skill O.o

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Richard Henderson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Resistance to minimum wage increases is often strongest from those just above minimum wage.

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Cee Gee
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’ll have to remember that Amazon box packers are skilled labor the next time I get a box the size of a small coffin with something the size of a box of Kleenex in it.

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Chad Young
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You mad at Bezos cause he sacrificed his whole life to get Amazon where it is today....and now you want him to just give you part of his sacrifice?

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Vicky Z
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This thing that everyone is bothered with how much someone else earns, really makes me furious!! Your problem is not with the other employees!!your problem is with your employer and only!!

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WhatEvenIsLife
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The entire assumption that people who work retail and food service don't work hard is absolute garbage. I've done food service (as a fry cook, among other things). It's hard, sweaty work, it's hard on your body, and you have to take sh*t from the public all day every day. So many people act like it's just lazy teenagers flipping burgers at a leisurely pace. The majority of fast food workers are adults with children. And flipping burgers isn't a f*cking cakewalk, if you've ever done it before.

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Be Potato
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought packing box and fry cook has the same level of skill lol

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Patricia Healton
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I make $2 more an hour after being tech support for a telecom for internet and phone service and have been doing it for almost 15 years. It does hit me wrong that entry level non-skilled job is going to be making almost as much as I am after 15 years on the job.

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George-Florin Constantin
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Being a fry cook not only does require skill, speed and distributive attention, it is also quite dangerous. Fry cooks do not deserve to be disrespected.

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Bubble Gum Bandit
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bezo's does have a salary, he makes $81840 a year or $39.35 an hour.

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dev mehta
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anyone over the age 21 making minimum wage deserves it. It is your fault that you did not learn a marketable, in-demand skill.

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KT
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LOL packing boxes for amazon sounds like zero skill to me

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Valley Girl
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I could see if he said he was a CNA, cleaning up poop, being hit, and sexually harassed. There's no way someone would go through all that when they could just drop fries instead. I don't know if that means everyone's wages need to go up or what. I just know those two things are not equal and should NOT get equal pay. OK, pandas, rip me a new one if you want...

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CatWoman312
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope the people who make $15 an hour already get an $8 an hour raise to make up for it and then the price of everything else will rise which is why $15 an hour can’t work. Sorry.

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Stille20
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But corporations and politicians would love for those people to be made at eachother and not paying attention to them as they get rich.

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EQXL
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Stop saying that others don't deserve what you get, instead realise that if that thinking is true you most likely should be earning more than you do.

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Traditionally, the divide in Washington has been seen between labor and its Democratic allies, and business and its Republican allies. However, according to NBCNews, this time, the minimum wage fight is now “divided into three camps, none of which neatly conform to expected ideological or business groupings: There are those who support a full $15 minimum wage, those opposed to raising the wage at all and a large group in the middle open to raising the minimum to, say, $10 an hour but not all the way to $15.”

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Meanwhile, various polls have been showing that a majority of Americans support raising the minimum wage. And while others are waiting for a nationwide decision, a number of cities and states have already lifted the floors of their own wage to $15.

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Seven states (Alaska, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, South Dakota, and Vermont) automatically increased their rates based on the cost of living and 14 states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington) increased their rates due to previously approved legislation or ballot initiatives.

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Ripley
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

$100,000 at $15/hr is 128 hours a week, or 18 hours a day - assuming in both cases that you work for 365 days without a break.

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Hans
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

May we suggest to desi that she should be paid minimum wage until she reads the first chapter of a basic textbook on economics?

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Grumble O'Pug
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Value is created when people stop being complicit with those who exploit.

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Moreover, Florida voters approved Amendment 2, raising the state minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2026. The amendment raises the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour effective September 2021, with a continuing annual increase until reaching $15.00 per hour.

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Hans
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone did not understand the invisible hand. There is no working supply and demand as long as the market is imperfect, which it is due to the asymetry of information and power. If you use clever terms, be sure that you actually grasp them!

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xHinatax
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Because those folks working those minimum wage type jobs need to work because they’ll get fired for not coming in. They’re not there because they want to be there; they need to survive and get that pay check.

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Grumble O'Pug
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s funny how so many toss teens under the bus with labor, but do the math: college is extremely expensive and to pay tuition at the uni I work at you need 83 hours a week all summer. In 1980 you could pay tuition in 20 hours a week all summer. Many Americans are cobbling together a life on 2-4 of these jobs that for some reason were vital during the pandemic, but not valuable enough to pay adequately.

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Bettie Douglas, a cashier at Which Wich Superior Sandwiches in St. Louis, Missouri who makes $10 an hour, told CNN that her salary barely covers rent, bills, and food.

She commented: "I deserve a liveable wage. Anyone who works deserves to take care of their families, feed their families, pay their bills, afford the necessities of life. I'm not asking for a handout, I'm working as much as I can. $10 is just not making it, and $15 isn't going to really make it either but at least it'll help."

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Hans
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interesting that these people kow exactly why some people need to work in low-incoming jobs. "Lazyness" is such an easy explanation. What about illness? Bad fate in live? Other hardships? If you are at the bottom, it might not be as easy to get up as some imagine.

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Hans
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This concepts of buying power and inflation go hard on those who want to ingore them.

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Mike Ward
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

lets count the ways Ned messed up here... I have; 1/ Australia isn't in Europe; 2/ they don't use Euros; 3/ if their currency is higher that makes a "European" $20 even more then an American $20, meaning the Aussies would be paid more then US$20/hr; 4/ this guy is the one that needs to learn. Not bad for just 26 words.

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Minimum wage debate. Blue responded to the “just get a better job” argument by comparing it normal people being expected to just play in the NFL if they wanted a better job despite their mental or physical limitations.

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Dark_flame
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Just get a better job". Fine, let those w minimum wages all just quit and get better jobs. Then there's no movie theaters, no burger joints, no public restrooms and what not. How is this even a discussion? Especially in the states where EVERYTHING costs 😱

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