A week of groceries in pictures

[Balta1701]

three more dependent on the government ought to warm your heart.

No, it doesn't.

 

We should want a system where a person working a full time job is not stuck well below the poverty line. It shouldn't be the government's job to fill in for what corporate America doesn't want to pay.

[Iwritecode]

It means there are jobs out there, if you do the right things. Being at MCD for 10 years and not getting a raise is probably a bigger indictment of the worker, than of MCD.

 

They also offer educational assistance and management training. I agree that working for a major corporation for 10 years and still making minimum wage means something isn't right.

[Iwritecode]

No, it doesn't.

 

We should want a system where a person working a full time job is not stuck well below the poverty line. It shouldn't be the government's job to fill in for what corporate America doesn't want to pay.

 

How do we differentiate between the 26-year-old with two kids that wants a "living wage" for 32+ hours a week from the 16 year old that just wants 20 hours a week to buy a few video games? Should they really be paid the the same amount?

[Balta1701]

How do we differentiate between the 26-year-old with two kids that wants a "living wage" for 32+ hours a week from the 16 year old that just wants 20 hours a week to buy a few video games? Should they really be paid the the same amount?

One of my favorite anecdotes from when these strikes began comes from Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn from TN. She complained how she only made $2.15/hour on the minimum wage when she was a teenager in Mississippi.

 

When you adjusted for inflation, of course which neither she nor the minimum wage does, that winds up between $12-$14 an hour.

 

How do we differentiate between the 16 year old who wants to buy a few video games and the 18 year old working 15 hours a week to try to pay for college? If the 16 year old gets some extra money and puts it away, and that leads to $1000 fewer student loans a few years later, that strikes me as a triumph too.

[Jenksismyhero]

You have better than a high-school education I'm presuming? If a person has been working at McDonalds full time or nearly so since they were 16, they may well not have one. The unemployment rate for people with a high school education is currently 8.3%, and 12.4% for people with less than a high school education.

 

If that person has a college degree, then that's a potentially likely reason why they haven't advanced, because they were only working that job part-time for a large portion of that period.

 

And I'm sure McDonald's maternity leave policies are strong right? It's not like we'd be the only country other than Swaziland and Papua New Guinea to not mandate paid maternity leave, we couldn't possibly be that inhuman.

 

I forgot how difficult and expensive it is to obtain a better than high school education in this country. That cash up front requirement is tough.

 

Also, WHY THE f*** DOES SHE HAVE TWO f***ING KIDS WORKING AT A FAST FOOD JOINT.

[Jenksismyhero]

That is a cop out. Making mimimum wage, you can get birth control very cheaply free in many places.

 

Fixed

[Iwritecode]

One of my favorite anecdotes from when these strikes began comes from Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn from TN. She complained how she only made $2.15/hour on the minimum wage when she was a teenager in Mississippi.

 

When you adjusted for inflation, of course which neither she nor the minimum wage does, that winds up between $12-$14 an hour.

 

How do we differentiate between the 16 year old who wants to buy a few video games and the 18 year old working 15 hours a week to try to pay for college? If the 16 year old gets some extra money and puts it away, and that leads to $1000 fewer student loans a few years later, that strikes me as a triumph too.

 

$15/hour is not much lower than what I was making at my last job as a programmer just a few years ago. That was with 10+ years experience and an associate's degree.

 

 

 

[Jenksismyhero]

The biggest problem in your campaign for having this person earn a low wage to teach her a lesson about personal responsibility is how much damage it actually does to the economy when people like this can't grow up. They can't get an education, they can't get good jobs, and they can't contribute to the creation of good jobs.

 

By the report, she had a kid when she was 19 and had been working at McDonalds for 3 years. I can't judge whether she was a high school dropout or not. But my point of view is...if people wind up stuck working minimum wage jobs for a decade+ because of what they did when they were 19, it's not just a personal failure, it's a major negative for society.

 

On top of that, and I'm surprised you haven't figured this out yet...who do you think is paying for the kids? If she's working full time at McDonalds, that earns $17,000 a year before taxes. Unless there's a spouse contributing, that's not nearly enough to support 2 kids, and there's virtually no chance she has actual quality health coverage.

 

Her kids are likely being partially/fully paid for by the taxpayers as well. So I hope it's worth it to you that this person gets their lesson about why they shouldn't have kids.

 

Jesus Christ this whole post is exactly why this country sucks. Let's completely forget the stupid decisions this lady made because she's actually the victim of our awful, awful society.

[Balta1701]

Jesus Christ this whole post is exactly why this country sucks. Let's completely forget the stupid decisions this lady made because she's actually the victim of our awful, awful society.

If her kids are hungry, that will teach her the appropriate lesson!

[Jenksismyhero]

If her kids are hungry, that will teach her the appropriate lesson!

 

You can address the s***ty reality she's brought her kids into without accepting and excusing her past decisions.

 

Edit: it just boggles my mind that the first thing some people in this country think about in that situation is "ugh, she should be paid more!" instead of "ugh, how irresponsible of her to have not one but TWO kids without the means to do so." I'd be in favor of a law making it a crime of child abuse to do something like that. Pregnant at 19, fine, you get a pass for making a bad mistake/being unlucky. But a 2nd kid? No, f*** that. That's on her.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Jenksismybitch

[Balta1701]

You can address the s***ty reality she's brought her kids into without accepting and excusing her behavior.

How? How exactly can you do that?

 

If you leave her to work a minimum wage job with 2 kids on her own, her kids aren't going to have stable housing, they're going to have terrible nutrition, that's going to impact their development significantly. They're going to be unlikely to go to college, they're likely to wind up in exactly the same situation their mother was in.

 

If you give her family the kind of food aid her kids really need, then you're "accepting and excusing her behavior". She's not getting punished enough! Helping her out is "exactly why this country sucks" and "Forgetting the stupid decisions made by this lady".

 

That's the double-edged sword of having a world where people can work a full time job and still be in poverty. Take your pick, which do you want, to improve the situation for the kids so that they can have a good future or do you want to punish the mom?

 

The right answer should be that you shouldn't be able to work a full time job in a modern, developed economy and wind up that far below the poverty line.

[Iwritecode]

The right answer should be that you shouldn't be able to work a full time job in a modern, developed economy and wind up that far below the poverty line.

 

The problem is that the poverty line moves depending on your family size. A wage that puts a single 18-year-old with no kids above the poverty line isn't enough for a 25-year-old with 4 kids.

[StrangeSox]

Universal Basic Income for every citizen.

[Iwritecode]

I'm still baffled at the zero upward movement in either wage or position within the company after 10 years.

 

[StrangeSox]

You guys might like checking out Tyler Cowan's the average is over

[Jenksismyhero]

How? How exactly can you do that?

 

If you leave her to work a minimum wage job with 2 kids on her own, her kids aren't going to have stable housing, they're going to have terrible nutrition, that's going to impact their development significantly. They're going to be unlikely to go to college, they're likely to wind up in exactly the same situation their mother was in.

 

If you give her family the kind of food aid her kids really need, then you're "accepting and excusing her behavior". She's not getting punished enough! Helping her out is "exactly why this country sucks" and "Forgetting the stupid decisions made by this lady".

 

That's the double-edged sword of having a world where people can work a full time job and still be in poverty. Take your pick, which do you want, to improve the situation for the kids so that they can have a good future or do you want to punish the mom?

 

I agree there's no easy answer, but I really wish our society as a whole would look down upon people like that and make it a shameful way to live. The exact opposite of your view which is "she's a victim, she's entitled to more!"

 

The right answer should be that you shouldn't be able to work a full time job in a modern, developed economy and wind up that far below the poverty line.

 

No one in a modern, developed economy should consider cashiering at a fast food joint a career. And if you end up like that, it's your own fault. Just like it's your fault when you choose to become morbidly obese by eating McDonalds every day, just like you choose to be an addict by taking drugs, just like you choose to end up dying of liver or lung cancer from drinking and smoking throughout your life. We have this amazing thing called free will. You're not a victim of things outside of your control with every decision you make in life.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Jenksismybitch

[Balta1701]

No one in a modern, developed economy should consider cashiering at a fast food joint a career. And if you end up like that, it's your own fault. Just like it's your fault when you choose to become morbidly obese by eating McDonalds every day, just like you choose to be an addict by taking drugs, just like you choose to end up dying of liver or lung cancer from drinking and smoking throughout your life. We have this amazing thing called free will. You're not a victim of things outside of your control with every decision you make in life.

But the 2 kids are. And whether you like it or not, currently we don't allow the government to decide when people are allowed to reproduce. Until we can do that, saying "it's your own fault" isn't good enough because all you do is keep the cycle going.

[TaylorStSox]

The issue is that the minimum wage has to be raised. Whether you put little value in a fast food job or not, the people working those jobs fill a role in society and should be compensated with a living wage. At some point, there has to be some corporate responsibility. You can't have it both ways. You can't complain about government assistance while not supporting a raise in wages. This country is filled with people working 60-80 hours a week that still can't make ends meet, while receiving no benefits. This model is unsustainable.

[Soxbadger]

Eh its a double edged sword. Higher cost of labor = jobs moving to where lower cost of labor is. Add in the fact that our labor market is artificially controlled through immigration and you have a situation where the labor market is not operating properly.

 

Basically you have labor supply artificially reduced which equals higher cost. You then are also putting a floor.

 

But then again, Im pretty much the only person who actually believes in laissez faire capitalism anymore. So if we are going to run this bastardized protectionist economy, we might as well just do whatever.

 

(insert general grumbling and annoyance)

 

 

[Balta1701]

Eh its a double edged sword. Higher cost of labor = jobs moving to where lower cost of labor is. Add in the fact that our labor market is artificially controlled through immigration and you have a situation where the labor market is not operating properly.

 

Basically you have labor supply artificially reduced which equals higher cost. You then are also putting a floor.

 

But then again, Im pretty much the only person who actually believes in laissez faire capitalism anymore. So if we are going to run this bastardized protectionist economy, we might as well just do whatever.

 

(insert general grumbling and annoyance)

That can also only happen so much though. While it may well be possible to replace some mcDonalds employees with automation, you cannot outsource the entire operation. Furthermore, eventually the people in the "low cost of labor" country start wanting things like clean air and a living wage as well, problems China is starting to deal with today.

[TaylorStSox]

Eh its a double edged sword. Higher cost of labor = jobs moving to where lower cost of labor is. Add in the fact that our labor market is artificially controlled through immigration and you have a situation where the labor market is not operating properly.

 

Basically you have labor supply artificially reduced which equals higher cost. You then are also putting a floor.

 

But then again, Im pretty much the only person who actually believes in laissez faire capitalism anymore. So if we are going to run this bastardized protectionist economy, we might as well just do whatever.

 

(insert general grumbling and annoyance)

 

This is where corporate responsibility comes into play. There's too much of a social and economic divide growing larger by the day. If American based corporations don't want to share their immense profits while continuing to outsource labor, tax the s*** out of them. At some point, the 1% will either share or have it taken from them.

[StrangeSox]

At some point, the 1% will either share or have it taken from them.

 

This is a very important function of a social safety net that often goes overlooked.

[StrangeSox]

More related to the OP: The Great American Menu, the signature foods of all 50 states.

 

http://deadspin.com/the-great-american-men...d-an-1349137024

 

edit: Chicago Deep Dish clocks in at #1

Edited October 18, 2013 by StrangeSox

[witesoxfan]

More related to the OP: The Great American Menu, the signature foods of all 50 states.

 

http://deadspin.com/the-great-american-men...d-an-1349137024

 

edit: Chicago Deep Dish clocks in at #1

 

Why he went with New York pizza over buffalo wings kind of blows my mind

[mr_genius]

I never said Americans eat less fast food. I just said that other countries eat it too, but if they included it in these pictures, it would take away the point they are trying to prove.

 

Every McDonalds I have been to in Europe has been packed at all times.

 

something like 60% of McDonald's revenue comes from outside the U.S.