Stephen Colbert on the minimum wage

[Jeremiah65]

I know some of the more conservatives on the board do not appreciate the satire of Stephen. I enjoy it, but then I am quite capable of laughing at myself and my world views from time to time...I find it healthy to be able to do so.

This is a clip from last night where he primarily focuses on Fast food and the minimum wage. There are parts of this that made me laugh so hard tears were streaming...

To those that are thin skinned about things like this...try to lighten up and have a laugh...it's good for you to be able to poke a little fun at yourself occasionally...

[media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PWWDbcpvGY[/media]

Edit to add:

I have stated before on these boards on this subject that I do not think raising the minimum wage accomplishes anything...

I'll look the post up if necessary to explain why that is...but feel free to search it out yourself...

But a good laugh is a good laugh...

Edited July 23, 2013 by Jeremiah65

[tinysbox13]

Colbertnation shall rise...

Love Colbert!

[Jeremiah65]

I think the line that had me laughing the hardest was where he said the McDonald's budget was based on working two jobs...."but that means two Christmas parties...just try to fill your pockets with shrimp and maybe a can of Sterno cause remember...you have no heat" (Referencing the McDonald's budget plan that allocated only 600.00 dollars a month for rent and zero dollars a month for heating expenses...yeah that's realistic budgeting right there!).

[Timmeh]

McDonalds America is cheep in Australia they get paid twice as much.

[Gunn]

Damn Right!

I agree with Colbert. All you gotta do is not spend money on needy things like: electricty, water, a place to live (live in your car or a cardboard box), on gas and heating, health insurance, and certainly not on any food (just eat the grass, it's free) for several years and you can make it on minimum wage. Even more so, all you got to do is not spend a single cent to get rich or well off, after so many years. Hell, I'd say you could get rich on less then the current minimum wage by not spending any money.

That's the problem, poor people are not willing to make the necessary life threatening sacrifices. I mean is your life all that important than money? Worship what little money you earn, hold it, cradle it, it's your new god. That's the "American Dream", people!

You got to take responsibilty for yourself and your actions. It's your fault if your basic needs are getting in the way of your "American Dream". Hold onto the dream with your last dying breath.....

Now who's with me!

[Frank Merton]

I remember having a job with a US company where for Christmas they shipped me a big ol' American turkey as a Christmas bonus. Have you any idea the value of such a thing here even now?!? We couldn't find an oven big enough and had to cut it into four pieces to roast it properly.

Thinking about it I don't really know why "Western Chicken" (as we call the birds) haven't caught on here. You see them in farmer's front yards so I presume they raise them for personal consumption, but you never see one for sale.

On the OP, even now, Vietnam has a considerable supply of underutilized labor. These people have jobs, but they don't really. They are nipped and tucked away in all sorts of places in the workforce, generally in extended-family businesses where they help out but aren't really needed and readily take a job elsewhere if some major employer appears. The phenomenon is called "underemployment."

Without a minimum wage law these people are easy to exploit, and this is a tough one indeed. With a minimum set too high the factory or whatever doesn't come to town and these people remain part of the hidden workforce -- as family members well enough cared for but getting nowhere in dead end situations. With no minimum or a very low minimum they get the jobs but become slave labor -- a few advancing but most not.

I believe in minimum wages, but not for the usual reasons, but simply to reign in the exploiters. One can create a situation where there are no opportunities except the local exploiter, who also of course has a certain local political presence and a lot of local respect that cannot be ignored. Pricing them out of the market would be the height of foolishness.

[Jeremiah65]

You're right Frank. In these tough times, exploitation is the "new" American way. It doesn't matter if someone "can" pay a better wage...they don't "have to" so they don't. People are hurting right now. Thanks to Obamacare, many people are being cut to part time and losing all their benefits. People want to work and will take whatever crap job they can find and because they are desperate, they get exploited.

This may seem like a paradox, but in my mind it is not. IF the GOV would get out of the way and get their revenue gobbling, bureaucratic fingers out of business...things could improve. If they reduced start up requirements and allowed entrepreneurs to get a foot in the door, I personally feel that opportunities would expand...not contract as we are seeing.

The clip had a quote from Koch Brothers...believe it or not...in practice he is not far off the mark. Minimum wage creates dependency because IF the GOV tells a company "you have to pay a minimum of $XX.XX per hour....that is all they are going to pay. That might sound counter-intuitive to some and I get that...I understand that exploitation would explode in many cases...but there is still a bit of truth in what Koch was trying to say. If you tell someone this is the minimum you have to do...that is what they WILL do. Scylla and Charybdis.

It's a horrible time we live in. When the accumulation of unimaginable wealth is more important than a human life...when it's widely accepted that it is perfectly ok to pay someone a slave wage so a CEO and the stockholders can make millions or billions, it is sickening to the soul. It is probably something, in my minds eye, that would make Jesus weep...or rage and overturn the money changer tables. Yet many of the people that are perfectly OK with this system proclaim themselves to be Christians. I personally think there is a special place in Hell for the people that exploit and hurt the poor and the suffering.

Back to my paradox. To me, if you just get out of the way and let people do the best they can do...human beings can be awesome! They are intelligent, ingenuitive and inventive and THEY WILL find a way if you just let them. Sadly, thanks to lobbyists and special interests, so many doors and ladders have been closed to so many people through over regulation, taxation, licensing and local, state and federal statutes. As a believer in personal responsibility and self determination...I see only a few solutions to this madness and they are not easy. There is, however, no better way. Maybe I am wrong...I just don't think so. Freedom to live as best you can is the only answer.

Just my opinion...

[Chooky88]

In Australia we don't have tips but we do have minimum wages you can live on. Poor American people. Walmart and McDonald's are ripping you off. Completely unfair on the working poor :-(

[tapirmusic]

In Australia we don't have tips but we do have minimum wages you can live on. Poor American people. Walmart and McDonald's are ripping you off. Completely unfair on the working poor :-(

It is completely unfair! There are men with guns that force Americans to take jobs at Wal-Mart and McDonalds. Then they force us to eat junk food until we're fat. And the little money we do make, they force us to buy flat screen televisions and fancy smart phone so it seems there's never enough money for the children!

[Kowalski]

It is completely unfair! There are men with guns that force Americans to take jobs at Wal-Mart and McDonalds. Then they force us to eat junk food until we're fat. And the little money we do make, they force us to buy flat screen televisions and fancy smart phone so it seems there's never enough money for the children!

Your post reminds me of this:

https://securecdn.di...47/original.jpg

Edited July 23, 2013 by Kowalski

[hatecraft]

The minimum wage is already too high.

[Raptor Witness]

The Arab Spring will come to the U.S., and when it does, there won't be a party of two.

Three will make four, and one will make two, so that the breeze blows U.S. by four ways and in two parts, to become a mountain of wind.

[Babe Ruth]

I understand the argument against raising minimum wage, but I don't buy it. It is specious, and totally disregards human decency or empathy.

Colbert is brilliant.

[Odds]

In Australia we don't have tips but we do have minimum wages you can live on. Poor American people. Walmart and McDonald's are ripping you off. Completely unfair on the working poor :-(

Well we do get tips if you work behind a bar or in a restaurant, but it's not an expected thing unless you get good service. And the difference in wages for Aus and the US is insane. I was getting more than double their minimum wage when i was working a register at woolworths when i was 15 in my school holidays. And that is going back nearly 13 years.

Edit: Btw, Colbert rocks. I never miss a show.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Odds

[hatecraft]

Colbert hasn't been funny since the first season of Strangers with Candy.

[Thanato]

Minimum wage in Ontario is 10.25 an hour and that is not enough to live on.

[Funky Poacher]

Minimum wage in Ontario is 10.25 an hour and that is not enough to live on.

Yep. That's why I'm dead inside.

[Thanato]

I actually recently got fired for lack of sales experience. But they knew I had minimal experience going in and hired me for my technical experience, which they liked. I was making 12 an hour and that is still barely enough for a single father to live on.

[Frank Merton]

If, as a matter of social policy, the government decides that the wage that what the market sets for a given labor input is insufficient for someone to live on, then the government should make up the difference. That is just ordinary fairness -- why should private employers be required to pick up the tab for market imbalances?

[Now here is where we need a sarcasm font; I'm sure someone will take me seriously and I do have something serious to say, but its a couple layers below the surface].

[Jeremiah65]

If, as a matter of social policy, the government decides that the wage that what the market sets for a given labor input is insufficient for someone to live on, then the government should make up the difference. That is just ordinary fairness -- why should private employers be required to pick up the tab for market imbalances?

[Now here is where we need a sarcasm font; I'm sure someone will take me seriously and I do have something serious to say, but its a couple layers below the surface].

Here's a couple you can copy and use at will Frank...

Enjoy!

As a reply to your opening commentary of social practice....unfortunately the Gov does take up the slack through the secret, backdoor, corporate subsidy called "food stamps"...

Edited July 24, 2013 by Jeremiah65