Gov't Sets Wage Increase for Many of Its Workers

ABC News ^ | June 12, 2014 | By TOM RAUM

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Many federal workers and contractors who earn the minimum wage are getting a raise next year.

Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez has issued a rule to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10. The higher level applies to new federal construction and service contracts beginning Jan. 1.

President Barack Obama had announced the raise earlier this year, but Perez moved to put it into effect.

"No person who works a fulltime job should have to live in poverty," Perez said Thursday in a conference call with reporters.

"All workers, not just those who work on federal contracts, should have their hard work rewarded with a fair wage," the labor secretary said. "Lifting the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would lift 2 million people out of poverty and benefit more than 28 million people."

[Oldeconomybuyer]

FORWARD COMRADES!!

[A_Former_Democrat]

More election year gimmickry

There’s not a sincere bone in anyone’s body supporting this

Buying votes in disregard for the economy and of others.

[vpintheak]

NO person who flips burgers should live in poverty. Because flipping burgers is worth the same as an engineer.

[bikerman]

What the hell it’s only taxpayers money. I feel generous make it $20 an hour.

[familyop]

"NO person who flips burgers should live in poverty. Because flipping burgers is worth the same as an engineer."

Is it really worth thousands of my dollars for that state licensed professional to stamp the plans that I perfected for a small, conventional house or barn?

It isn't. Although I haven't eaten restaurant food for quite a few years, the burger flipper is worth more. It's true that because of the laws decreed by the state and local governments and connected professional lobbies, I have no choice but to pay. But lifting that stamp in extortion to stamp designs soiled by the ICC with its regulations (one of many examples, the foolery on rafter ties for hip roofs) is still not worth one dollar. They can't even speak or write proper English.

[Rome2000]

"No person who works a fulltime job should have to live in poverty,"

CPUSA Raus!

[nascarnation]

I’d be interested to know what job category and how many fed workers are really making min wage today.

[vpintheak]

I’m talking real engineers, who engineer things. Not a glorified paper pusher. Almost all engineers I know are smart and hard working and worth what they get paid, or more.

[familyop]

I apologize for generalizing far too much. That’s a great point. Some of the best and most generous instructors that techs. and do-it-yourself-ers have are real engineers not even involved in the rackets preventing small, residential construction and small production. Some engineers are even devoting time to help others survive possible problems ahead (DIY heating designs, food, shelter, etc.).

[vpintheak]

No problem. I recently hired an engineer to do a home inspection. Basically noted everything I found, nothing more, I had to point out a couple things to him, and he charged $500. Never again, grumble....

[familyop]

"No problem. I recently hired an engineer to do a home inspection. Basically noted everything I found, nothing more, I had to point out a couple things to him, and he charged $500. Never again, grumble...."

I sincerely sympathize, but I also hope very much that the engineer you hired is in my State (low fee). Nothing wrong with being able to voluntarily hire an engineer to do an inspection. But there lies an exposure of the problem.

People hire engineers for the same task here to inspect houses that were already engineered and inspected by the County. Little something wrong with that situation, isn't there. And oh, yeah, serious problems are found.

I paid over $3000 to an "engineer" (architect), because engineering was mandated by the County for every part of a small, residential build. Something wrong with that, too.

Now, I have a design perfected by my daughter (studied architecture) and I (codes, experience) for a small house. It's all designed to codes, but it will cost us terribly for an engineer's few minutes of looking at the plan and the stamp. The total, with other fees, will be a large portion of our cost of building the house.

The original plan was moderately large. But with our discoveries about the fees, regulations and taxes, much shrinkage occurred (see tiny property tax and tiny energy costs). Crooks fail to pay attention to consequences. That's one of the common characteristics of a crook.

Another error by the ICC goons: the IRC "dwelling unit," IBC "efficiency dwelling unit" dilemma. Design a small house to desired specs (e.g., IRC), and the locals paraphrase from the other (IBC) in order to obstruct and raise costs (fee for changing plan).

Why do those offices exist? The goons even scoff at terms for time-proven framing methods. Example: inspector saying "strongback" through clenched teeth and denying.

When dinosaurs walked the earth (when I first learned to build in a school) and inspectors weren't needed for rural house builds, there were "ribbands" (laying flat) for preventing ceiling joist roll and adding other support.

"Strongbacks" (on their sides, nailed to the side of each ribband and running along the length) were sometimes added for more ribband strength and for rafter ties (nailed to rafter heel joints at each end under hip roofs). The method remains in some old, authoritative framing books, with no more than two of those structurals needed for a building up to 24 feet in width.

The best answer from the illegitimate ICC children of the Wood Frame Construction Manual (tied to the IRC--evil book of sorcery separate from the IRC for the purpose of dredging more fees from victims by harboring secret information about builds in windy climates) was a vague solution (in a document outside of the WFCM of wind straps of indeterminate length used as rafter ties. Otherwise, the IRC wants mile-long, 2x4 rafter ties on every rafter and the whole length of the building.

It's overbuilt. It is written, that the Children of the Corn...er, of the ICC caution local "Authorities Having Jurisdiction" ("AHJ" in inspector discussions) to avoid requiring overbuilding. They lie and use local governments to extort more fees in areas with high wind gusts!

Hope that was colorful enough to be an interesting read (boring content for most folks).

[vpintheak]

Sure was! I’m sorry you have to go thru all of that. It’s truly a shame how intrusive government regulations have become in some places. Makes me glad to live in fairly rural Alaska!
I hired the engineer primarily to cover my behind. There were some cracks on a concrete slab leading to the foundation that looked pretty old, and I wanted some reassurance. I think I’ll be fine, but I also now have an engineer who said it was fine too.

[familyop]

That makes sense and was a smart thing to do. I’m in the middle of nowhere on the Range in CO (very thin population, no near neighbors), but it’s still very regulated. Family and I have thought about Alaska, but the dark is what puts us off.

Very tempted, but we want to take advantage of the many sun days here to keep heating bills down (high elevation, winter temps in the minus thirties, winter wind gusts to about 110 mph off of some nearby peaks). The power poles are several miles away, too, so there’s the added hardship of having to install a small PV solar electric plant.

We’ve become fond of alternative energy after having installed it ourselves (minding the National Electrical Code, not a bad code, most of it).

There, in AK, we would want to build a mass heater (masonry heater of some kind, or at least a rocket stove mass heater), and I don’t know what we’d do for electricity away from the grid in the winter in AK (where properties are usually much lower priced, and life, more peaceful)—use a lot of fuel, I guess. Given our nerdly nature, we’d probably start building boilers, making castings and cutting parts for steam engines. ;-)

[We’ve actually looked into that in depth.]

[vpintheak]

You sound a LOT more dedicated than me! Many people heat their homes with wood. Either traditional style, or the outdoor boiler to heat baseboard water heat or radiant floor heat.
There are pellet stoves as well, but that wouldn’t work in the bush!