Catholic Charities USA seeks minimum-wage hike

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Of course it easy to rhapsodize about the dignity of labor and just wages when someone else pays for it
Well, how much is the “someone else” making? Can they afford to pay the workers more if they cut back on their own “profit taking”? Or are they just scraping by, themselves.

I recognize that we don’t exactly live in an ideal world, but ideally a good business plan ought to account for just wages to it’s workers as a prerequisite for sustainability.

I’d hardly call expounding upon Catholic teaching on a Catholic message board “rhapsodizing”, though.
 
Give me the investment dollars and I’ll start plenty, vern! There’s LOTS of opportunity here for growth.
Give you the investment dollars?!?!

I didn’t give Henry Ford his investment dollars. I didn’t give Sam Walton his. Why do I have to give them to you – why can’t you borrow your own start up money, just like every other entrepreneur?
Depends upon whether you’re an entrepenuer or a contracted worker. Depends whether you have excess to invest or not.
What’s this got to do with your obligation to hire and pay workers?

If other people have an obligation to hire them and pay them more, surely you have the same obligation.
Sure seems that this is a circular argument according to your own position of “give em more and they ought to spend more,” though.
I call. Quote me where I said “give em more and they ought to spend more.”

If you can’t find such a quote, please apologize.
I’d be quite content if each person were able to be his own independent contractor. But, the reality being that some people are employers and some employees, I only ask for equity and justice in respect to the dignity of man and his labor.
Same here. Let’s start with you accepting the same responsibility you want to put on other people – hire **your **share of workers and pay them a living wage.
 
I went to Catholic Charities web site to check out the source material on this.

They are tragically misguided. The simplistic, “pay more and the poor get more money” just doesnt wash in real life.

The poor compete with outsourcing to the third world, automation, and illegal immigrants. Raising the minimum wage simply pressures all business toward these other things; it puts minimum wage earners out of work.

Raising the minimum wage means less minimum wage jobs.

Raising the minimum wage means less minimum wage jobs.

Who doesn’t get this? So the family that is scraping along with 2 minimum wage jobs loses one and now has one at 150% wage they used to have. Sounds like that family’s income goes down 50%.

The individual who is scraping along with 1 minumum wage job loses it. Sounds like that guys income goes down 100%.

Since CCUSA has not offered even the slightest real world insight on this simple policy issue, I think they are not to be trusted with more complex issues.
 
Well, how much is the “someone else” making? Can they afford to pay the workers more if they cut back on their own “profit taking”? Or are they just scraping by, themselves.

I recognize that we don’t exactly live in an ideal world, but ideally a good business plan ought to account for just wages to it’s workers as a prerequisite for sustainability.

I’d hardly call expounding upon Catholic teaching on a Catholic message board “rhapsodizing”, though.
What part of the Catechism says people who are too lazy to start a business and build it up get to pose as morally superior to people who are energetic, risk-taking and hard-working?
 
Another thing that just boils me is the concept that “every job should be a living wage job.”

Totally bogus.

Not the same as every family has a right to earn a living wage.

Some tasks (jobs) aren’t worth paying a living wage for. Never have been. Never will.
 
Give you the investment dollars?!?!

I didn’t give Henry Ford his investment dollars. I didn’t give Sam Walton his. Why do I have to give them to you – why can’t you borrow your own start up money, just like every other entrepreneur?
You didn’t challenge them to start a business. I’m just asking you to put your money where your mouth is, that’s all.

As you know, Vern, it takes money to make money. First step in earning ten million dollars… start with a million dollars. So offer me the step up that so many others get. Afterall, not every other entrepenuer “borrows” the cash.
What’s this got to do with your obligation to hire and pay workers?
If other people have an obligation to hire them and pay them more, surely you have the same obligation.
I never made such a claim. Only said that if one DOES hire them that the employer has an obligation to pay a just wage. If one is trying to make money through someone else’s labor, the laborer has first dibbs on a fair return. For without the laborer, the investor would have not that profit.
I call. Quote me where I said “give em more and they ought to spend more.”
If you can’t find such a quote, please apologize.
You’re essentially arguing a supply side economics, no?
Same here. Let’s start with you accepting the same responsibility you want to put on other people – hire **your **share of workers and pay them a living wage.
Great. Mission accomplished. We’ll hypothetically say my share is, therefore, defined as zero. And they are paid accordingly. I only ask the same of those whose share is greater.
 
Another thing that just boils me is the concept that “every job should be a living wage job.”

Totally bogus.

Not the same as every family has a right to earn a living wage.

Some tasks (jobs) aren’t worth paying a living wage for. Never have been. Never will.
To those radical proponents of the minimum wage, I say, “Have at it.”

Set the example. Start your own business. Take out a second mortgage on your house. Drain your bank account. Take all the money in your IRA. Work 60 to 80 hours a week to build that business up. And hire the unemployables. Pay them what you consider a “living wage” – without regard to the economic value of their work – and come back in a couple of years and tell us how you did.
 
What part of the Catechism says people who are too lazy to start a business and build it up get to pose as morally superior to people who are energetic, risk-taking and hard-working?
Again, circular argumentation. You’re trying to define things by your own narrow preconceived scanario, then asking that “proof to the opposite” be given in this fight against a paper tiger. It’s like the bible thumpers who insist, “Show me where it says you can worship Mary in the Bible?”

I’m sure that there are plenty of energetic, risk-taking, and hard working men and women who can’t afford to start their own business, just as there are lazy business people who let others do the work and only reap the rewards. What a silly and simplistic argument!
 
You go Vern!

You left out the part that the time, money, and sacrifice is for the CHANCE to make a buck.

If you do all that for a chance to make a buck, why should your employees get a GUARANTEE of a living wage?

Now that’s just not fair.
 
I’m sure that there are plenty of energetic, risk-taking, and hard working men and women who can’t afford to start their own business
You got it. They couldn’t save money because they couldn’t get a job because ROI payback on the new robot just went down to 18 months.
 
Some tasks (jobs) aren’t worth paying a living wage for. Never have been. Never will.
This may be true. But, then, somebody’s gotta do them. What if everyone decided that they wouldn’t sweep up the floor or empty the trash or do any number of seeminly menial but necessary tasks? How much would they be “worth” then?

In the end, what must be remembered is that work is made for man, not man for work.
 
My problem is not with minimum-wages per se but with a national minimum wage. It is not something the feds should be involved with. If states or municipalities want to institute a minimum wage which reflects the economies in their areas, that’s fine. It is not the pervue of the federal government.

The more local, the better.

Also, the Catechism calls for a balance when discussing a just wage. Mere agreement between payor and payee is not sufficient, but profitability must also be taken into account.
[2432](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2432.htm’)😉 Those responsible for business enterprises are responsible to society for the economic and ecological effects of their operations.218*** They have an obligation to consider the good of persons and not only the increase of profits. Profits are necessary, however. They make possible the investments that ensure the future of a business and they guarantee employment. ***
[2434](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2434.htm’)😉 A* just wage* is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave injustice.221 In determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each person must be taken into account. "Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good."222 Agreement between the parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages.
Also note, the Catechism does not list this as a responsibility of the state:
[2431](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2431.htm’)😉 The responsibility of the state. "Economic activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal task of the state is to guarantee this security, so that those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel encouraged to work efficiently and honestly. . . . Another task of the state is that of overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic sector. ***However, primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the state but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up society."217 ***
All emphasis’ are mine…
 
This may be true. But, then, somebody’s gotta do them.
That’s right. The people who do those jobs don’t need to earn a living wage doing them.

Let’s call that super fallacy #2, “Everyone who is working is working to support a family of 4.”
 
You didn’t challenge them to start a business. I’m just asking you to put your money where your mouth is, that’s all.
And you said that without blushing.😃

I have to admire your chutzpah!

The challenge was for you to put your money where your mouth is. You didn’t give me a penny to start my business, and I don’t owe you any to start up yours. Get youir startup money like everyone else does – raid your IRA, take out a second mortage on your house, and drain your bank account.
As you know, Vern, it takes money to make money. First step in earning ten million dollars… start with a million dollars. So offer me the step up that so many others get. Afterall, not every other entrepenuer “borrows” the cash.
What “step up” did “so many others” get?

We borrowed. We risked our homes and retirement funds.
I never made such a claim. Only said that if one DOES hire them that the employer has an obligation to pay a just wage. If one is trying to make money through someone else’s labor, the laborer has first dibbs on a fair return. For without the laborer, the investor would have not that profit.
So how are you exempt from the rules you want to make for others? Who said you get off scott-free?

Did you gain some sort of merit from not saving your money? From not risking your painfully accumulated capital? From not working 60 to 80 hours a day painfully building up a business?

By not doing all those things, you somehow became morally superior to the people who did?
You’re essentially arguing a supply side economics, no?
No.
Great. Mission accomplished. We’ll hypothetically say my share is, therefore, defined as zero. And they are paid accordingly. I only ask the same of those whose share is greater.
Then everyone else’s share is zero, too.
 
That’s right. The people who do those jobs don’t need to earn a living wage doing them.

Let’s call that super fallacy #2, “Everyone who is working is working to support a family of 4.”
But when a person IS working to support a family of 4, he ought to be able. I’d disagree that the people who do low paying (whether it be minimum or slightly beyond that) jobs don’t need to earn a living wage. Many do.
 
But when a person IS working to support a family of 4, he ought to be able. I’d disagree that the people who do low paying (whether it be minimum or slightly beyond that) jobs don’t need to earn a living wage. Many do.
So the proper policy to support the “many” (most of whom are starting at the beginning on their way to better things and will be living in poverty 2 years or less) is to raise the wage for all.

To hell with those who are prevented from starting at the beginning because we can afford to ship the fruits formerly of their labor in from China now.

Thats why, though your heart is in the right place, your policy is doing more damage than good.
 
But when a person IS working to support a family of 4, he ought to be able. I’d disagree that the people who do low paying (whether it be minimum or slightly beyond that) jobs don’t need to earn a living wage. Many do.
If his work doesn’t add enough value to the business, they can’t afford to pay him more – it’s that simple. And that’s why I challenged you to start your own business – that you might have an epiphany on the way to the Bankruptcy Court.😃

You realize also that a family is an** obligation**, not a right? Before one starts a family, one should be sure one is able to support that family.
 
Personally, I’d like to see the stats on some of these “family of 4” assertions. Why in the world would a person with a family of four be working a minimum wage job? That is for starting out. If you didn’t go to college and your first job is minimum wage, I understand. But, you shouldn’t be married with two kids at that point!

There is a fallacy that the people at minimum wage “have not received a raise in ‘x’ years.” People don’t stay at minimum wage for long. The mobility between income levels in this country is dynamic. It is a very small percentage of the poor that stay poor (under the poverty level) their whole lives.
If his work doesn’t add enough value to the business, they can’t afford to pay him more – it’s that simple. And that’s why I challenged you to start your own business – that you might have an epiphany on the way to the Bankruptcy Court.😃

You realize also that a family is an** obligation**, not a right? Before one starts a family, one should be sure one is able to support that family.
 
And you said that without blushing.😃

I have to admire your chutzpah!

The challenge was for you to put your money where your mouth is. You didn’t give me a penny to start my business, and I don’t owe you any to start up yours. Get youir startup money like everyone else does – raid your IRA, take out a second mortage on your house, and drain your bank account.
I’m content to “get by” on my hard work without necessarily “getting ahead”, thank you very much. I’m a Catholic, not a Calvinist, so I feel no need to “proove my worth” of chosenness.

But if you want to help me “get rich” the “old fashioned way”… inheriting it… then I’ll be glad to take you up on the opportunity you’re offering and promise to show the trust you’ve shown in me well.

Now, what of the person who has none of these dollars from vern? How are they to start their own business if the present job they hold pays all of $12.50 an hour laboring 10 hour days, the worker is maybe a 35 year old immigrant, and he’s lucky just to pay rent?
What “step up” did “so many others” get?
Not everyone borrows. Some just have or are given. They invest from their excess or the opportunity they are offerred. Others essentially inherit.
We borrowed. We risked our homes and retirement funds.
And I applaud you for that. I must also say that you were blessed to have had the opportunity to be able to borrow against such hard resources. Not everyone is so fortunate.
So how are you exempt from the rules you want to make for others? Who said you get off scott-free?
The only rule I reiterate (it is not of my making but from the natural law, I fear) is that those who do choose to employ others compensate them justly in accord with their dignity as persons. I’m in no way exempt from that rule. If my business plan says that I can’t make it work while doing that, then I ought not start a business.
Did you gain some sort of merit from not saving your money? From not risking your painfully accumulated capital? From not working 60 to 80 hours a day painfully building up a business?
Well, there is merit in investing one’s time and resources in other ways.
By not doing all those things, you somehow became morally superior to the people who did?
I claim no moral superiority. I only offer expoundment upon Church teaching.
Yes. (just to be contrary to vern) 😉
Then everyone else’s share is zero, too.
Fair enough. Now we’re back to being good old independent contactors. I like it! How’s about I sing you a song for a loaf of bread?

“Once I built a railroad, made it run…”
 
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