Posted on 01/04/2025 6:29:57 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Wow, where have you seen that in downtown SF?
Parking is at least three times that amount - but maybe now that most of the downtown businesses are closed and the parking lots taken over by dangerous drug-addled homeless who will smash your car windows out while you're gone, it is $10/hour.
This is why we rarely go out to restaurants - including fast food “restaurants” any longer, it has just gotten too expensive.
Went to a take-out fish place we like, got two fish sandwich meals, included fries and a fountain drink - I noticed immediately the fish sandwiches are now much smaller - and it was over $40.
Also why there are rows and rows of closed businesses with nothing moving in - buildings that have sat empty now for going on four years.
Businesses that are still open? Good luck finding anyone to help you - most have skeleton crews now and more and more are moving to self-check out only (such as Lowe’s).
This is also true. Which is why bringing in labor from other countries depresses wages.
The median income was $6200 in 1963. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1964/demo/p60-043.html
For a 2000-hour year, that comes out to $3.10/hr
Minimum wage was therefore roughly 40% of median income. I guess that may be a livable income.
In 2023, it was $80,610. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-282.html
To keep up with the median, minimum wage would be $16.25, which is near the high end of minimum wages by state, and significantly higher than the federal minimum of $7.25.
The use of gold as a standard is highly misleading, since we are not on the gold standard anymore. Otherwise, the median income should be around $475,000.
Ford Falcon in 1963 was $1380, Beetle was $1595. Cheapest new car last year was apparently the Mitsubishi Mirage at $17,800. A single serving of Coke from a machine was a dime, now it’s going to cost $1.50 to $2.50 (although serving sizes are larger to account for the lower kick in the current formula).
So using the Coca-Cola index, minimum wage should be around $20-$25; using a car index, it would be closer to $15 although the Mirage is going to have a lot more features than the earlier two. A base model Harley is 10x what it cost in 1963; A high end men’s haircut in 1963 would have been a dollar or less; now they will run $40-80.
So while the costs haven’t moved up in lockstep, by any index a $15 minimum wage isn’t inflationary. And if we do move manufacturing jobs back to the US, the quality of life overall will improve for everyone except the untrarich and the international bankers.
Self-immolation is a terrible thing to watch. Usually.
Looking at 1963 as a baseline, a $15/hr doesn’t seem out of line.
But was $1.25/hr (~$2500/yr) in 1963 a living wage?
I have noticed the sandwiches, in general, have gotten smaller as well. In addition to be more expensive.
Exactly right. Even the socialist Swedes understand this
No exceptions.
100% worker coverage.
Washington state minimum wage - $16.66 on January 01.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
$1.25 in 1963 had the same Purchase Power as $12.97 in November 2024.
Probably would have required a 2 income family but $5k a year wasn’t that far below $6200. (the median).
Around here the functional minimum for legals is probably around $11 - $12 with some fast food hitting $14. Thing is, that’s part time and they won’t schedule so that folks can arrange to have a second job.
The current system is not sustainable - not with the ultra rich squeezing out the middle class and buying up starter homes, well trained white males being discriminated against, and the death of America’s Christian culture. Things aren’t likely to end well.
Over 90,000 people lost their jobs last year due to california business’s having to fire people as they cannot stay in business at the higher cost mandated by people who do not run a business.
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