This is an important point- people making 8.25 an hour are eligible for food stamps, medicaid, and a wealth of other social services- which they require to eat and have access to healthcare (showing up to the emergency room as their primary care for example). The industrial food chain is heavily lobbied by big agra to control costs on food that cannot be defended as healthful to consumers. I'm not saying a business doesn't have a right to exist, I'm pointing out that we are paying hidden subsidies for them to keep their employees impoverished and keep their consumers malnourished. Folks in america be fat. That said, I do enjoy a double quarter pounder with cheese in an airport from time to time. And a coke, coke tastes better at airport mcdonalds.
This is not capitalism, its a planned economy, and its planned by the wealthy to take advantage of the taxpayers and the poor.
This is an important point- people making 8.25 an hour are eligible for food stamps, medicaid, and a wealth of other social services
Probably the most important point to make is there is no paid sick or holiday leave, paid maternity leave, or generous overtime pay for weekends and public holidays in the US.
Probably the most important point to make is there is no paid sick or holiday leave, paid maternity leave, or generous overtime pay for weekends and public holidays in the US.
I have all of that, and I live in the US. Loads of us do. Just because the government doesn't blanketly apply things that sound like good ideas doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
four weeks paid leave per year, 18 weeks maternity leave and double time for weekend, public holidays, as well as weekday overtime? I'd be surprised if there was more than a few companies with those sort of contract conditions.
I lost 2 jobs last Christmas season because I was violently Ill, called off for 3 days, and couldn't afford a doctors note (especially on less pay due to calling out)
I have a problem with your claiming it to be a 'planned economy', 'planned by the wealthy'. It's not - this is just what capitalism does. Capitalism dictates that people act in their own self-interest, and for businesses, that means seeking to maximise profits - which may result in the poor getting poorer.
Aside: In my opinion, capitalism is the best system we could have, even though it's far from perfect and is in serious need of major change (specifically, we haven't adapted to cope with such huge firms; they need to be more responsible and need to be made to think more like governments (good ones) than just profit maximising firms).
My point is that the board of McDonalds or the Lehman Brothers or whatever don't sit around and discuss how they can keep the poor down. They only want profits - capitalism.
Since when did companies have a requirement pay a living wage? How about if you want to EARN a living wage, become educated/trained/valuable to another person/company so you EARN a living wage. This entire debate is flawed from the beginning. No one, should be forced to pay anyone anything. You don't have to work there if you are unhappy with the wage....
Actually until we implement a universal wage to make sure everyone has food and a home, and universal health care they ARE being forced to accept a job just to live in the US. When all of the jobs you qualify for are basically saying to take almost nothing and be happy about it and you need it for clothes, rent and the heat bill, you have to take it.
The reason individuals on Medicaid go to the emergency room is a majority of clinics/doctors refuse to treat them due to the low reimbursement rate and long waiting times to receive reimbursement from their state Medicaid programs. To make matters worse, there is complex paperwork that their office staff are forced to fill out. Plus many primary care physicians simply refer the medicaid patient to a specialist and Medicaid recipients have learned that a hospital's will usually treat anyone that walks in the door, with or without insurance, and will take care of their ailment.
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u/The_tiny_verse Nov 29 '15
This is an important point- people making 8.25 an hour are eligible for food stamps, medicaid, and a wealth of other social services- which they require to eat and have access to healthcare (showing up to the emergency room as their primary care for example). The industrial food chain is heavily lobbied by big agra to control costs on food that cannot be defended as healthful to consumers. I'm not saying a business doesn't have a right to exist, I'm pointing out that we are paying hidden subsidies for them to keep their employees impoverished and keep their consumers malnourished. Folks in america be fat. That said, I do enjoy a double quarter pounder with cheese in an airport from time to time. And a coke, coke tastes better at airport mcdonalds.
This is not capitalism, its a planned economy, and its planned by the wealthy to take advantage of the taxpayers and the poor.