Minimum Wage vs Slavery
by When I told my Sociology professor that I thought, in some instances, slavery might be better than working for minimum wage in today‘s society, he said that thought was ludicrous.
Ludicrous to Prefer Slavery Over Minimum Wage
There is a lot of false pride today because of the fact that slavery was long ago abolished. But, was it really? It may be that the name, Slavery, was just changed to Minimum Wage and the color “black” was changed to “diverse” which includes all colors as well as white. When I told my Sociology professor that I thought, in some instances, slavery might be better than working for minimum wage in today’s society, he said that thought was ludicrous. I understand why he said what he said, but I do not think he understood why I said what I said. Have you ever tried to live and pay bills on minimum wage in today’s society?
According to sources found here, on July 24, 2008, Alabama does not have a minimum amount an employee must be paid. Alaska workers must be paid at least $7.15 per hour while Georgia workers must be paid at least $5.15 per hour if the company employs six or more. Kansas has to pay employees a measly $2.65 per hour and Illinois pays a whopping $8.25 per hour as a minimum amount allowed paid to employees. South Carolina and Tennessee have no minimum amount that employees must be paid. Wyoming employers must pay at least $5.15 per hour to employees. At $5.15 per hour, an employee would have to work a half week just to fill a car up with gas.
Unbalanced Pay Scale
When I hear of the $700 billion bail-out that is going to be paid in order to save the hide of greedy money mongers who have taken much and turned it into nothing, I am appalled. Large corporations as well as some smaller companies are paying hard working, honest employees a “minimum wage” that leaves them in a lifetime of poverty just so CEO’s can be paid millions of dollars so they can waste it on stuff that deteriorates as fast as it is made. And we read in textbooks that slavery was abolished a long time ago? How does one figure that?
Minimum Wage Laws Feed Poverty
Just who is it that has the authority to decide who is worthy of excess and who is worthy of crumbs? Realistically, a modest budget of one person consists of rent of at least $500.00 per month, utilities at a cost of approximately $160.00 per month, car payment or transportation of $250 – $300 per month, fuel for the vehicle at a cost of at least $100 per month, food at a minimal cost of $300 per month, cable and internet, which some might consider a luxury, costs at least $100 per month, $300 a month for miscellaneous such as clothes, shoes, cell phone, cough syrup, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet paper, car maintenance such as oil change, liability car insurance, etc. While $1,300 doesn’t sound like a lot of money for a very modest budget, a person earning $8.25 per hour might be able to scrape by but will remain at poverty level. If this person has a child and has to pay for school lunches or incurs any expenses associated with children, this person is screwed. Of course, this is in Illinois and I have no idea as to the real cost of living there. It can be calculated quite easily how a person making less than $8.25 per hour would fair while on an extremely modest budget. There is NO WAY this person can exist comfortably.
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Post CommentMac
On October 15, 2008 at 8:31 pm
they never paid you for being a slave. Besides, this is the land of opportunity, not the land of “hey, let’s be communists and have everyone receive the same amount of money”. And I am pretty sure any slave would prefer FREEDOM than living in house that isn’t their own where they are told what to do, and HAVE to do it.
Line
On November 23, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Mac, theoretically this may be “the land of opportunity” but when “some” companies think they cannot go under and expect the government to keep them going, we are closer to communism than you think. besides who can afford to live in a house on minimum wage? Freedom to live under a bridge is better than living in a house that isn’t yours?
societysfault
On February 13, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Nice post, now for the record, sensible people such as myself can read this and understand perfectly well how true so much of this is. We understand it because we live it.
Then there are the “others” that see the word slavery, and have to go balls to the walls literal with the analogy. These are what i call “stupid people”.
But yes, the truth is, paying people these horrible wages, for all these years, is only good for one group of people. the rich.
the way I see it, if you cant afford to pay your workers a good wage, you should just do that job your self.
I couldnt tell you how many cheap ass employers ive worked for, that have never worked a day in their lives.
I wish Americans would grow some backbone and stand up and do something about it.
richard souza
On February 15, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I had a group of proffesors that sounded so depressing and bleak.Finally one day I asked why do you keep painting such a sad picture of things?The answer was simple”Because we want you to go out and change the way things are”
In economics we were taught that an I deal wage povided food shelter and an allowance to perpetute the race.
We were also taught that that the slaves were set free because the industrialization of america was being finaced by the North as a relative new venture.
The south already entrenched with slaves and plantations were not happy just producing cotton they were pplanning to takeover the textile industrys and already had the land,labor,and capital.
Since Northern investors,could not quickly build factorys,buy slaves and build housing it became neccasry to liberate the southerners from their work force and plantations.
The basic principle of slave Vs. employee is a slave needs food shelter clothing medical tools housing and the perpetution of his race.Evidently a free worker in America needs a smaller portion of these things.
drew
On September 1, 2009 at 2:21 pm
This has more than a ring of truth to it. In reality, it cost more to upkeep a slave than it does a modern wage earner. One specific example is James Madison, who spent far more to house, clothe, feed, etc. his slaves than modern corporation spend on their wage workers. It is hard to make a comparison with modern society, but I’m sure if there were TVs and other entertainment in the 18th and 19th century, slave owners would have given them to their slaves to distract them from the hell they were living in. We really haven’t come very far since then.
Also, there were several arguments made in the South in favor of slavery, citing the fact that the industrial North treated their workers like total garbage due to the fact that they could just go out and find another. Slaves, on the other hand, were the owner’s property, which gave them incentive to actually take care of them. It’s a twisted argument, but at the time, slaves were often better taken care of than wage earners.
jeremy
On January 27, 2010 at 11:18 pm
freedom is priceless .
and you considered yourself educated ,sir ?
and when you say in the article
“to pay an employee $5.15 hour and then be done with it is a bargain for any employer “.
well ,obviously youve never employed anyone .
if you had , you would surely know otherwise .
i had a girl who worked for me at 8 an hour.
competent sweet young girl but lazy , snail like , tardy , un focused .
she asked for a raise , i said if to her
if i could pay you BASED on your productivity i would give you 4 dollars an hour” .
(and lower my customers prices a bit to keep a competitive edge in the market place )
i said this ;
8 dollars = 320 week or1280 month.
i also told her i could buy a new bmw with that sme money if she dont start movin her ass like her ganja stash was on fire .
she got the picture .
a new car would do more for me than shes been doing , alot more .
hours add up fast and never stop ticking away .
productivity is the key word not money .
productivity an old school word and you dont hear it often , not in america .
if you produce , for real , no bs and make your team win consistently you will always be valued and rewarded . after all youre a good keep .
most should be grateful for the minimum wage . (im not . i think its a nipple to suck on )
for many well fed sloths young and old would be paid far less and soon cease to exist , or adapt and survive .
in my glimpse , i would say this country is counter productive as a whole and its coming to a head
its called real competition in a real jungle.
employers have no guaranteed minimum income, no guaranteed biz . if it rains , it rains . and the baby gotta eat .
all they have is a 40-60 hr wk and a need to survive , too.
no guarantees . except headaches , pilferers , taxes and min wage laws of course.
pat
On March 20, 2010 at 12:39 am
I’ve worked and lived and payed rent on minimum wage.. I think this kind of article is written by someone who hasn’t – telling me I would be better off as a slave!
fred
On March 25, 2010 at 9:30 pm
You are obviously some one who had many opportunity. But in the real world when bills are to be paid and debt are to be payed off, Minimum wage is a blessing!
Slave
On December 21, 2010 at 6:53 pm
slavery is but the owning of labour and carries with it the care of the labourers, while the European plan… is that capital shall control labour by controlling wages. This can be done, by controlling the money. It will not do to allow the Greenback… as we cannot control that.
The Hazard Circular
July, 1862