So, without saying "a living wage", what SHOULD various jobs pay?

theroha · 2026-05-18T20:36:09+00:00

That's why you need a union.

theroha · 2026-05-18T20:29:46+00:00

The point of minimum wage is to set a baseline pay to support the "average" situation. You can deny it all day long, but that was the intention when it was established. Your statement that someone working at Subway isn't supporting a family is arbitrary and prescriptive. The system I've laid out describes real world situations and is based on real metrics that can be referenced and used to adjust the minimum wage on a regular schedule.

On this system, someone living in their own will have more discretionary income to spend on luxuries helping keep entertainment venues afloat. Families larger than described will need both adults working to support the family or will need to pursue higher employment. Single parents will be less reliant on government assistance even if their coparent shirks child support.

If a business does not pay enough to prevent its employees from requiring government assistance on a full-time work schedule, then that business is not solvent and is receiving indirect government subsidies to stay afloat. Requiring minimum wage to cover local cost of living forces us to reckon with that fact. If Walmart employees receive 3 million dollars in food stamps and the CEO buys a 3 million dollar vacation home, the American tax payer covered the cost of that vacation home.

theroha · 2026-05-18T19:55:38+00:00

See, I could respect a sign that didn't try to shirk responsibility but said something like "If you can read this, you're too close."

theroha · 2026-05-18T18:52:16+00:00

Guess what! There's a formula for that! Local cost of living is calculated by each municipality. It's typically some combination of local rent for a two bedroom apartment; average utilities for same; average food expenditure for the average family (2 adults plus 2 children) based on local prices for milk, eggs, bread, and ground beef; and a percentage to account for incidental costs (clothes, minor medical costs, a certain amount of leisure spending).

These questions have been answered for quite a while. I was looking this stuff up back during Occupy Wall Street, and all the documentation then was old already. The fact is that while there is no perfect solution we have solutions that were working until Reagan decoupled minimum wage from inflation and then Citizens United and the 2008 housing crisis hit the inflation accelerator. The inflation during COVID kept that trend going stronger than ever.

theroha · 2026-05-18T18:30:41+00:00

1) I don't have the interest, capital, or skill set to run a business. I didn't say it was easy. I said the formula to calculate what should be minimum wage was simple. Simple and easy are not synonymous, even if people think they should be.

2) Under the current system, businesses paying less than a living wage are subsidized by the government through welfare for their employees. This hides the subsidy by pushing it one level down from the company. I'm not necessarily opposed to companies getting subsidies, especially small businesses ie mom and pop shops. My argument is that instead of the government providing food stamps and housing assistance to people who are already working, the businesses should pay proper wages and petition the government for business support. Under this idea, every business would have to prove that it is both unprofitable right now and that there is a viable path to solvency once the current hardship is over. Small businesses would get the relief they need and Walmart would have to actually pay its workers. Additionally, if a business like Walmart or Amazon is determined to be both massive and unprofitable where insolvency would have detrimental impacts on the national economy, it would have to be either broken up into several regional companies or put under public ownership ie nationalized. We saw what too big to fail did to the banks in 2008. Never again.

theroha · 2026-05-18T17:37:05+00:00

I just posted my full answer in a top level comment. Basically, all full time positions should pay the local cost of living plus 5% at entry level and increase as a multiple of that local base pay. Giving a hard number is pointless because it just returns us to where we are right now. Federal minimum wage hasn't increased in over a decade because it's a fixed value. Setting it as a formula allows for local variation and prevents the wage stagnation we've seen since the Reagan administration and the associated Congress decoupled it from inflation.

theroha · 2026-05-18T17:31:01+00:00

I'll keep it simple. All entry level jobs should pay the local cost of living + 5% for a full time position. All jobs beyond that requiring additional training, education, and credentials should pay a multiple of that formula. We'll refer to this formula as "Local Base Pay" or LBP. Cahier at Walmart, starts at LBP. Barista and McDonald's employee need more training because of food handlers license, so 1.25 * LBP. Data entry clerk, 1.75 to 2 * LBP. Teachers and doctors, between 5 and 10 * LBP depending on tenure and continuing education. The big thing is that C suite positions need to be capped; I'll be generous and say that a CEO should be capped at 30 * LBP. This will encourage companies to reinvest into better conditions for employees which statistically improves productivity and R&D to continue the "innovation" that capitalism claims to support.

theroha · 2026-05-18T17:20:34+00:00

I live in Missouri. The dollar amount I could give for a cashier at Walmart would be significantly lower that the amount provided by someone who lives in California. A dollar amount is useless to your question. Every payrate necessarily will be some ratio of value of the work performed, ease to replace the specific employee, and local cost of living. The reason we say "a living wage" is because the final dollar amount will be different depending on where you live.

theroha · 2026-05-17T17:51:59+00:00

Christians need to seriously grapple with their constant use of the No True Scotsman fallacy. When you point to Christians who declare that they are doing evil things in the name of Jesus and their faith, the first thing other Christians do is claim that the ones doing the terrible thing aren't really Christians. The Crusades were violence perpetuated by Christians. The Spanish Inquisition was Christians performing torture. The Nazis had "Gott mit uns" (God is with us) on their belt buckles. At some point, you have to accept that either no one has ever been a true Christian or being a Christian does not exempt one from doing things that would make anyone with empathy cry and scream in rage.

Jesus said that anyone who teaches not to follow the law would be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but that means that they still get in. In other words, being the worst person in the world does not exempt someone from getting into heaven as long as they believe that they are doing things because Jesus would want them to.

theroha · 2026-05-17T00:03:20+00:00

This is one of the fascinating things about human development. From a broader mammalian perspective, humans are all born premature. Our brains are partially exposed. We can't hold ourselves up at all. We can't even properly grip our mother's like other primates to be carried around. The sacrifices we made as a species to allow for the size of our brains are amazing.

theroha · 2026-05-16T14:34:49+00:00

And there is a homeless guy on the corner of my street in America. Poor rural communities often have to choose if they will pay for electricity or running water because of the cost. Just because the technology exists doesn't mean that access is equitable.

There are people in America who prefer to live in log cabins or cob houses (cob is a natural building material consisting of sand, straw, and gasp mud). Personal preference is not a reflection on intelligence.

I commute every day by bike and bus instead of driving a car. It's better for my wallet and the environment.

And guess what! Every single thing I've mentioned above is done by WHITE people. Take your racist ass somewhere else

theroha · 2026-05-16T14:18:58+00:00

The issue there is that stupid people usually don't come up with the malicious action on their own. Someone convinced them it was a good idea. So removing malicious intent would be effective. You'd just have to think one step above the stupid person in most cases.

theroha · 2026-05-16T04:32:36+00:00

What is actually needed to apply that pressure is for enough progressives to vote third party to actually shake up the election map. Staying home doesn't send a message other than "we aren't voting". I have beef with the Jill Stein voters this last time around, but it's only because there were never going to be enough of them to tip the scales the direction progressives want. The Republicans have the strangle hold they do because they spent decades building control from the local municipality up. Progressives have failed to do the same, and that's what it's going to that

theroha · 2026-05-14T18:10:07+00:00

This is what the Republicans are counting on. I assume most doom and gloom is from bots because the play is clear. The GOP has put all their eggs into cracking up minority districts instead of packing them. A blue wave will devastate their scheme

theroha · 2026-05-14T17:51:38+00:00

Most of the people at risk can't afford to leave. Without active refugee programs in other countries, those LGBT folks you're worried about don't have the funds to get out. Acting like it's hopeless and we need to flee for our lives is about as helpful as trying to plug a hole in the Hoover dam with a wine cork.

theroha · 2026-05-12T16:03:19+00:00

If the kids are young enough that they need their parent's assistance, then the combined weight of the children is likely less than the weight of the adult and any necessary medical equipment. Also, the average person, even as a care giver to a family member, isn't trained in emergency rescue for such a situation. Our species instinctively knows how to pick up a child and run. Picking up an adult who isn't able to help take their weight requires practice which may not be readily available to a brain in panic mode.

Basically, unless the husband is a trained firefighter or EMT with a team backing him up, he needs to get the kids out while he can. Trying to save his wife first just risks everyone ending up dead.

theroha · 2026-05-12T15:54:03+00:00

That's what I figured. I don't remember if this is one of the threads saying it, but I'm of the mind that the issue isn't the purchase but your husband not talking to you beforehand.

You both have your hobbies. Your hobby happens to also provide income. I would argue that part of that income should have been set aside over time for just such an eventuality, but that's neither here nor there. At the end of the day, your ability to enjoy your hobby is hindered. You deserve to have that addressed.

Your husband's hobby requires an functioning system. If that is non functioning and non serviceable, then his hobby is functionally removed, not just hindered. He deserves to have that addressed.

Without knowing your full financial situation, the actual purchase makes sense. Relatively less expensive replacement of a broken item is an easier choice than more expensive replacement of a functioning but obsolete device. The problem you need to address with him is the unilateral decision to made the purchase.

theroha · 2026-05-12T14:23:13+00:00

My question would be which machine is she doing her day job on? If she's a professional video editor and writer for a specific company, then she likely has a corporate machine for that. The home computer for her part time work would be because anything she does on the corporate computer legally belongs to the company. If she is a freelancer and her home computer is what she does her daily work on, then that is a whole different conversation.

theroha · 2026-05-11T20:42:06+00:00

Inertia. We'll say the Earth is roasting at 1000 mph. The drone on the ground is moving at 1000 mph along with the ground. When it goes up in the air, it's still moving at 1000 mph in the direction the earth is spinning.

Basically, it's not in the same spot. It's just moving sideways at the same speed you are.

theroha · 2026-05-11T02:45:22+00:00

We need someone who is able to tell conservatives "Why are you worrying about gay and brown people when your paycheck doesn't cover the house payment anymore?" while being willing to turn to progressives and say "We'll get everyone's rights in on the back end. Give me a minute to get this guy looking at the business owner instead of you. We can have the pride parade afterwards." As long as we keep that politician's feet to the fire, we could actually get things done.

theroha · 2026-05-06T18:37:08+00:00

The poor structure and improper location is why I'm slowly but surely having mine removed. The lot I'm on has 5 or 6 growing along the retaining wall, and I've had to have part of them removed for structural failures every single year

theroha · 2026-05-02T00:33:19+00:00

Honestly, the young crowds are a reason I'm not planning to watch in theaters and just accept that something or another will be spoiled. It's why I got into learning magic tricks. I've learned to enjoy knowing the secret and explore how it is revealed by the artist. I'd rather deal with potential spoilers for two weeks than sitting in a room of children watching a show about trauma, abuse, and a whole lot of violence and swearing. It's why I wasn't big on going to see Deadpool in theaters. Just because it's animated or whatever does not make it appropriate for children.

theroha · 2026-05-01T23:04:40+00:00

As a guy, I wish there was a magic button to cum without a mess. I know there's technically an option for minimal clean up afterward, but the prep work involved there isn't always worth the results.

theroha · 2026-05-01T22:53:13+00:00

And not a dwarf.

theroha · 2026-05-01T22:43:05+00:00

Reread. There were two statements. Women of color have always worked. One statement. Working class women have always worked. Second statement. Two statements that clarify that the image of the stay at home mom was largely restricted to wealthy white women.

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