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.
Minimum Wage Laws a Bargain for the CEO and Corporations
Comparing a worker who lives on minimum wage to slavery, I am still not sure that minimum wage is better. To pay an employee $5.15 per hour and then be done with him at the end of the day is actually a bargain for any employer. Slave owners had to provide housing, food, clothes, etc. and not all slave owners mistreated their slaves. Some were actually good to their slaves. When I think of earning $5.15 per hour and then being told to provide my own housing, transportation, food, clothes, etc., I cringe. There is no way it could be done. The figures just don’t work. Idealistically, it may sound like living in slavery would be worse than living “free” on minimum wage but realistically, living in slavery may actually be the better of the two evils. A ludicrous thought? Yes, according to my Sociology professor, but realistic to me. To work for an amount that does not pay for acceptable food, shelter, clothes, and transportation is worse than slavery and gives no hope for survival. A life of poverty with no hope to do better possibly drives people to crime, drugs, and dependence on others.
Greedy CEO’s Dependent on Minimum Wage Workers as Well as Government
Ironically, CEO’s who shovel in millions of dollars in pay are actually dependent on workers accepting less pay and minimum wage workers in order to be able to feed their greed. Why are these CEO’s who have taken much and turned it into nothing worthy of a $700 billion bail-out by “our” government when some who work hard and honestly are only “worthy” of minimal pay? CEO’s can be compared to slave owners in that they consider themselves more deserving and minimum wage workers can be compared to obedient slaves because in reality, they are able to exercise no control over their destiny. Minimum wage laws are implemented to protect the CEO’s and business owners to insure a desired profit level. Minimum wage workers are no better off today and may even be worse off than slaves of many years ago. The name has been changed but the concept remains the same. Those who think they are deserving reign over those deemed undeserving…by the implementation of minimum wage laws which actually insure that CEO’s have labor similar to that of slaves. Not only do some expect earnings in excess of millions of dollars but they also expect the government to bail them out to the tune of $700 billion when they prove to be incompetent or unworthy of their earnings.
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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