"It really jerks me that people like you think that someone making $10 an hour are obligated to spend more than they can afford in order to keep some union guy in his $25 an hour job."
Whoa. You missed my point entirely.
I am saying that people who earn $10.00 an hour are not the ones supporting the economy, it is the $25.00 hourly jobs that support our economy.
Chances are the low wage earners rent and do not own homes.
They may be more prone to live in higher crime areas. Their children may not have the opportunities in school because their parents cannot afford their participation in extra curricular activities.
Chances are the low wage earners are not buying new cars, but driving older, high maintainance low efficiency vehicles. They are more likely to have uninsured vehicles.
Or they use public transportation, which is funded by the taxes of the $25.00 and above class.
Chances are the low wage earner does not have health insurance, so they show up at the ER for basic medical care, and don't pay their bill. They drive up the cost of health care to all, including the insured.
Chances are, the low wage earner collects food stamps and/or rent subsidy and is more likely to need public assistance. This cost is billed to ALL working people in the form of higher taxes.
My concept of the economy is perfectly well understood.
I am not saying that burger flippers or other unskilled positions should make $25.00 an hour. Entry level jobs are necessary to train our youth to be responsible workers. But people need to have the ability to advance their living standards as they gain experience.
I glanced through the local job classifieds in last nights newspaper. The majority of the jobs listed were for $10.00 an hour or less. Yes there were some skilled jobs like programmers and nurses which obviously pay much more than the majority of the job listings. But there were several skilled jobs like construction and welders with the advertised wage of $10.00 an hour. That amounts to $18,000 a year which is WAY below the median wage in America.
Can you imagine trying to support a wife and baby on that kind of wage? The woman cannot work because daycare eats up her paycheck. Exactly how much can this family contribute to our economy?
So we subsidize the low wage earner with our taxes and brush them aside.
Damn those high paying jobs. They really drain our economy don't they? Buying power gives us the ability to shop around for the best price. You have a flawed concept that just because people buy higher priced items they have less disposable income. Looks like the person earning $25.00 an hour has 60% more to spend than the person earning $10.00.
Of course this does not account for taxes which the low wage earner probably pays few if they have a family.
Another item to consider. What kind of wages are the foreign workers earning that produce those cheap goods you like to spend your money on? What is the standard of living in that country? What is the human rights record of that country? Are they a Democracy, a dictatorship, socialist? What are the transportation costs of the goods they ship? How much energy does trans oceanic shipping consume? What kind of export subsidys or import restrictions are imposed? Is there such a thing as free trade anymore?
Do we want to raise the standard of living of the 3rd world at the expense of bringing down our own standard of living? That is exactly what is happening when one shops price instead of national pride.
Stop, you're killing me. Local property taxes--particularly in blue states from which businesses are fleeing--are enormous, and they absolutely crush the working poor. And everyone who lives somewhere pays them one way or another.