Quote:So anyway, getting back to Taco Bell and the minimum wage.  I'll skip the Keynesnian economics discussion for now.

 

In 1996, I could get 3 tacos and a medium drink for 2 bucks.  Same meal runs about 5 bucks now.  It's actually a pretty good indicator of inflation, as everthing is about 2.5x what it was then.

 

Except for the price of house where I'd like to live, which is up ten-fold.  My salary's about 3x what I made then, but my saving rate/year is actually down when adjusted for inflation, because stuff costs so damn much.

 

The minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation, and it needs a bump.  Maybe not to 15 bucks, but adjusted for inflation, it's now worse than the $3.35/hour I was making back in 1985.

 

 

 

BTW, in my profession, guys work 1 month on, 1 month off.  You know what they all do when they go home?  Collect unemployment.  And they've done this through Republican and Democrat regimes, for decades.  They have steady work, yet game the system.  Some of them even work in the fishing industry on their time off, under the table, and dodge income taxes to boot.

 

And they're ALL gun-toting, redneck Republicans, cheating more tax dollars in a year than these would-be $15/hour deadbeats do in 5.  And they complain about the government full time, too.  Classic hypocrites.

 

However, there is one distinct difference here.  These guys are actually doing something and working.  I could tell stories of guys that would rather collect unemployment, sit home and smoke pot/play video games rather than take a "non-union" job.

 

I'm not saying that either is correct, but there is always "more to the story" so to speak.

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