Some people are okay with the easy way. Some people are okay with mediocrity, especially if it means they don’t have to do anything for it. I am not this type of person.  Do you know how hard it is to write a blog on your phone while chasing down a toddler who is apparently on a mission to destroy the Christmas tree? I’ll give you a hint: it’s infuriating.
There are many times I want to say “screw it”. I want to tell Tom to quit his job and we can live happily ever after in less than ideal conditions on the government dime because they seem to live better than the hardworking people who live according to each paycheck. They are fleeting thoughts though, because my first thought is my children and the lessons they would learn from that. And I remember why I don’t give up: because they deserve better and that is more important to me than anything else. So my husband works away and I make sure the paychecks stretch as far ad possible.
Working a minimum wage job, which it seems the only one I can get at the time being would eat up my entire paycheck for daycare. That is, unless the wage gets raised up to $15 an hour. I’d flip burgers for that in a heart beat. Do I think that’s way too high to raise it? Sure I do. But, I’ve considered a few things.
People like the easy way out, so a job of ease like that, would keep a person employed. And an employed person making more money is less likely to need government assistance. Secondly, some people take whatever jobs they can get, and they should not be forced to feel ashamed if a minimum wage job at McDonald’s is the best they can do for their families. In fact, they should be applauded for their hard work instead of shamed. More people should be like that. And lastly at that rate of money, it will no longer be more beneficial to live off the government than to be gainfully employed so maybe that will get people actually working, than being paid from hard-working lower middle class people’s paychecks to sit around and play Call of Duty Ghosts on that PS4 you bought that most people couldn’t afford on your nicer furniture than the second-hand ones they have to live with. Run on sentence rant, ended.
On the news, I heard Herman Cain say, essentially, “if you work hard, you’ll get raises anyways after 6 months”. In the real world, does that really happen though? In my experience it never happens that way. Maybe every few years you get an extra $50 a check… the real world is not the same place those cushy pundits that talk about the middle class lives. Nothing infuriates me more than someone in designer clothes wearing Louboutin shoes, telling me how I feel about something. They don’t know how I feel about anything, and they shouldn’t presume that they do and pretend to speak for us.
So, do I think minimum wage should be raised? Sure. Do I think $15 is too much? Maybe. I’m not an economist, but I would love to read the math and theory behind how $15 for minimum wage version the money being paid into government assistance and how much money is saved from the government, thus being saved by the tax payers. It might not even be cost-effective, I would just love to see the independently done math to make an educated decision either way. And don’t feel ashamed of your job, whatever it is. I commend you for your strive and other people should too.