What wage is just?

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We remember the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Let those who dine well and have their money now enjoy it. They will have none of that in the world to come.
 
I am not a leftist. I want people to earn a living wage. That is very capitalistic. Capitalists cannot be leftists.
 
We have heard this all before.
Jobs are sent out of the country. Not because people who do not lack skills or work ethic. But solely to be done by slave labor in China or other places where workers are exploited.
 
YourNameHere said:
We need a balance. Some regulations. Not overly regulated or under regulated. That is when the system works.
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We already have lots of regulations
Are you suggesting that Govt should dictate profit margins and what a business does with their after tax profits?
 
Maybe the solution is that all companies paying international workers should be made to post the wage range paid for each position in their company. Maybe then they would pay a just wage to everyone. They are allowed to pay for slave labor now because they are mostly able to hide that fact so they aren’t publicly shamed.
 
maryjk said:
The problem is that you are assuming that the person making the $5 an hour is only making that, and that they are the only person supporting themselves.

I would be happy to work for $5 an hour, if I was doing $5 an hour work.

My husband is the major breadwinner, my income simply supplements his.
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That’s what I always say.

You hear the talking point that “most people working for minimum wage are adults.”

But relatively few are adults who are the sole supporter of a family.

Most are: (1) young people living “at home” being supported by someone else, (2) someone working to supplement their family income, or (3) someone working a second job to supplement their income.
 
From the USCCB.
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-te.../seven-themes-of-catholic-social-teaching.cfm
  1. The economy exists for the person, not the person for the economy.
  2. All economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family and serve the common good.
  3. A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring.
  4. All people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, economic security.)
  5. All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions as well as to organize and join unions or other associations.
  6. All people, to the extent they are able, have a corresponding duty to work, a responsibility to provide the needs of their families and an obligation to contribute to the broader society.
  7. In economic life, free markets have both clear advantages and limits; government has essential responsibilities and limitations; voluntary groups have irreplaceable roles, but cannot substitute for the proper working of the market and the just policies of the state.
  8. Society has a moral obligation, including governmental action where necessary, to assure opportunity, meet basic human needs, and pursue justice in economic life.
  9. Workers, owners, managers, stockholders and consumers are moral agents in economic life. By our choices, initiative, creativity and investment, we enhance or diminish economic opportunity, community life and social justice.
  10. The global economy has moral dimensions and human consequences. Decisions on investment, trade, aid and development should protect human life and promote human rights, especially for those most in need wherever they might live on this globe.
 
po18guy said:
Whatever is agreeable to employer and employee is just.
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This has to come with a big caveat as to what is “agreeable.”

From Rerum Novarum:
  1. Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice.
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Of course, as that encyclical continues, unions and other associations should be the first recourse before getting to state interference.
 
Gingersnaps4 said:
Maybe the solution is that all companies paying international workers should be made to post the wage range paid for each position in their company. Maybe then they would pay a just wage to everyone. They are allowed to pay for slave labor now because they are mostly able to hide that fact so they aren’t publicly shamed.
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Why?
You can already ‘buy local’ if that’s your desire, and who are these US companies with slave labor? That would likely be illegal and should go to court.
 
“Before overtime pay, Chinese workers making the iPhone earn only the local minimum wage of $318 per month, or about $1.85 per hour.1 Mar 2016. Close to slave labour in my opinion.
 
RuthAnne said:
How do you overcharge your customers? You set a price. They agree to pay it. What’s the problem?
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Companies try to sell their products for the maximum they can get, which is not their true worth. How else could Bill Gates be the mega billionaire that he is?
 
Eric_Hyom said:
Companies try to sell their products for the maximum they can get, which is not their true worth.
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Their true worth is what people are willing to pay for it. I don’t buy theater popcorn because it’s not worth the price to me. No problem. There are plenty of people who are willing to pay it.
 
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Eric_Hyom said:
pay, Chinese workers making the iPhone earn only the local minimum
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I was asking about the USA, not China. I can’t control what happens in China and it’s none of my business anyway.

Sorry if that was not clear. Also sorry the quote got clipped. I’m smart phone challenged.
 
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RuthAnne said:
Can you name a company that has slaves?
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You are arguing semantics, you must know that I meant slave wages? People, even minors, working in these foreign factories are hardly paid anything compared to a worker in a first world country.
Theo520 said:
You can already ‘buy local’ if that’s your desire, and who are these US companies with slave labor? That would likely be illegal and should go to court.
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You knew what I meant too, right?
 
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chessnerd321 said:
The facts don’t support you. Try doing a simple Google search. The rate of homelessness in Australia is almost double that of the United States. I had to tell a German friend of mine the same thing. People go to NYC or Chicago or Hawaii and then think they know the US as a whole.
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I did. Nope.

Homeless in Australia are classified as people living in housing trust. Thus they are being “homed” by the government. They are not living on the streets.
 
Eric_Hyom said:
Companies try to sell their products for the maximum they can get, which is not their true worth. How else could Bill Gates be the mega billionaire that he is?
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So, who is forcing an individual or company to buy a product? No one.
The maximum they can get for a product is what someone is willing to pay. If a competitor comes along and offers a similar product for less money, the competition will drive the price down.
Bill Gates is wealthy not because he charges too much, but because he designed an operating system that helped others be more productive and sold shares of his company to people who saw the investment to be worthwhile. The cost of the product was worth the cost to those that purchased it. His employees had skills that made them valuable and they were paid well. Investors allowed the company to expand. That is how jobs are created.
 
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