JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum "MINIMUM WAGE"

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYswIAvp3VE&list=UUoT7YwZk4FLagioii_zuLCw

MINIMUM WAGE
IF WE WORK FULL TIME
IN THE GOOD THE USA
WE SHOULD BE REWARDED
WITH DECENT LIVING PAY

WE SHOULDN NEVER HAVE TO CHOOSE
BETWEEN THE RENT OR THE HEAT
SHOULD OUR KID GET A BRAND NEW SHIRT
OR NEW SHOES FOR HIS GROWING FEET

MINIMUM WAGE
AIN’T ENOUGH TO SURVIVE
WE WORK FULL TIME
TRYIN TO STAY ALIVE

MINIMUM WAGE
AT A LOW PAYING JOB
THEY SHOULD PAY A LIVING WAGE
FEELS LIKE WE’RE BEIN ROBBED
MINIMUM WAGE

WE CLEAN UP YOUR HOMES
AND WORK IN THE MALLS
WE WORK IN FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS
AND OTHERS PAINT YOUR WALLS

WE DRIVE ALL YOUR TRUCKS
OTHERS ARE TAKING YOUR TOLLS
WE ALSO SWEEP THE DIRTY STREETS
AND WE MAKE YOUR SANDWICH ROLLS

(CHORUS)

WHO HAS MORE VALUE
A CEO OR A WALMART CLERK
I SAY WE ARE ALL IMPORTANT
IT’S ALL AMERICAN WORK

Good one Barry. But you know what happens when they raise minimum wage? They hire minimum employees, and make the people working do two jobs.

One way or another the company is going to reach it's bottom line

Hi Barry, I read your lyrics and felt compelled to respond. Hopefully my comments won’t sabotage your post.

Why does everyone think minimum wage should support a family? It’s a start into the workforce or a bridge for seniors, or people who just want to get out of the house. It’s a start. The real American way is to start at such a job, give an honest days work, get recognized and then rewarded. Take on added responsibility, make your boss look good and move up the ladder. Right now the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Should a 16 year old who has never worked anywhere be compensated more than that? Our government workers kids in DC start at $9.50.

Raising the minimum wage creates a snowball effect in many areas:
1. Where do you stop? Let’s raise the minimum wage to $8.00 per hour. Now the workers making $8.00 who have been rewarded for hanging in there expect an increase to keep their reward. OK give them one Now the supervisor is looking at them saying their making as much as me, I want a raise. It never stops.
2. Retail and industry have budgets. If costs go up they have two options. Raise the cost of the product or reduce the hours to produce the product. Ether the consumer gets screwed or the employee who just got his raise now working harder.
3. It creates entitlements. Huh? Well if I’m in high school and fast food is paying minimum and I apply at let’s say The Gap, should I be entitled to more?

I could go on and on but this is a music forum.

Hey Bugsey....I know you are Probably Right but I believe that the cause is just. We can't have half the Country making $10 an hour.....not enough taxes and can't live on it. SO I wrote the song. When the Auto Assembly Lines started they weren't really high paying jobs or that skilled. You just did one thing as the car came by. BUT America built a large Middle Class and it helped the Country and a lot of lives...The Unions did that and the Auto Companies thrived anyway. SO.....I write songs that I believe it. What's a fella to do....? LOL

A Lot of what you say MAY be true but I still believe that a LOT of unskilled people are raising families and are NOT Going to become Doctors and Lawyers. We NEED a Middle Class and SO Many of the new jobs are the so called low paying jobs. IF I Have to pay $1.00 for a shirt at Walmart for them to make $17 an hour so be it. If I ate Burger King....I would be ok with paying more. THIS IS JUST ME....This is what I believe. The Middle Class is Gone and unfortunately the Factory jobs are gone too. MANY unskilled AND some skilled are working in jobs that USED TO BE Entry level jobs but NOW they seem like they are not that anymore. SO....I enjoy writing songs that make people think, get passionate and makes a good discussion like you and Bugsey are Making. I can't disagree with some of what you say....BUT I believe WE can do better. If YOU WORK 8 hours a day 5-6 days a week you should be able to LIVE.....Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Well Barry, your song inspired thought, good job.

The sentiment is nice, and maybe it could inspire some companies to do better.

But the reality is, alot of people can only make it by sharing apartments, and working two jobs. this is America we deserve better than that, but that's how it is. The company has everyone by the sack, if you dont want the job somebody will.

I mean when wallmart has a spot on an application that asks "Why would you like to work for Wallmart" you know things are bad.

"errr duh i always dreamed of working for walmart, they are the finest retail outlet in the country, and I could be proud working for them"

If you dont want the job, someone will want it.

Nowaways im seeing alot of young kids trying to make careers out or wallmart and supermarkets. They'd rather spend 20 years working their way up the ranks, than go to college, get in debt and not make a cent the whole time they are in school.

But forcing companies to pay more can only be bad. They might be able to force a company to pay more er hour, but they cant make a company hire, or stop them from layin off, so they have fewer employees who break their arse for .50 more cents an hour

The only solution for people is to find a new career path. Not easy though

Raising the minimum wage is attacking the symptom, not the root cause of the problem. The reason we need this discussion is our esteemed leaders allowed the middle class jobs you speak of to go to Asia and made no attempt to stop them. Wages are determined by supply and demand. If you raise the minimum wage for unskilled workers, it will just cause more of that work to be sourced in Asia and unemployment will rise.

Colin you are spot on in saying we are not looking at the root problem. Raising the minimum wage will cost jobs period.

Barry you said you’d gladly pay another dollar for that shirt at Wal-Mart or burger at a fast food restaurant. All well and good but everyone can’t do that. What about the people who are just making it paycheck to paycheck? Now they are paying more for everything and fall into the I don’t have enough money to live trap. Do we give them a raise too? For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Like I said where do you stop?

You make a LOT of valid points. BUT I personally know middle age guys and gals that lost their jobs in 2008 and are now working at Minimum Wage Jobs as their JOBS....and there are many uneducated women with kids at home how NEED Food Stamps....what's up with that. Millions are NOW working like this as their Profession....Some not educated enough...some horrible experiences in life and others just NEED the stinking Job. MY POINT is that we can't have a Country like this in the long run and SOMETHING gotta be tweaked here. I personally will pay more for things to have a Living Wage for all...Just me Personally....Most of these Monstrous Companies JUST CRY THE BLUES and will STILL make lots of money even if they pay $17 and hour....They make Fortunes and I don't believe a thing they say. SO....I will continue to state my case through songs....only do this here and there. I think my last like this was LIFESTYLES OF THE POOR & THE HOMELESS. Just the way I see it. Guess I'm an Idealist living in a Ruthless, Greedy World.....lol

I made a video...check out my first post above....it is strong.

If they had a living wage THEY would be able to afford a little More....Just my Idealist Nature living in a Country of Greed and Stinking Lying RICH Corporations that will still make money....OH poor bastards....maybe the stock price will go down....awwwww......feel really bad for them.

Your not the only one to fight for this, honest people have been fighting for honest wages for centuries. Alot of bloodshed and dirt has happened for this fight.

Unions demand acceptable rates, but they give more to the employer by making sure they all are skilled and are of a certain quality.

Most minimum wager jobs require nothing more than your time, which is why the company wont raise the wages.

The question is this...Do you want better minimum wage, and more unemployment, or less minimum wage and less unemployment?

If you could get EVERY company in the country to play fair, it could work, might be a bit socialistic, but there are always ways for a company to maximize profits.

Maybe I'm just Skeptical but I don't really BELIEVE that they would have to lay people off. ARE YOU TELLING ME the Walton Family can't absorb the extra money????? HUH???

The Rich Will always Cry the Blues.
It's mostly about the Stock Price and NOT ABOUT People.

We will have no Country left if Millions work at low paying jobs and don't pay any taxes AND get Food Stamps.....We are a Community of People and are NOT the Corporation of The America.

If Corporate America had it's way we'd still have child labor and Sweat Shops. How much does it cost Apple to make ONE I Pod or Phone in the Asian Sweat Shops and How much profit per item d they make. The profit is probably so obscene that they won't tell us. IF They wanted to be Patriotic they could do ALL the Manufacturing HERE in America and make LESS Profit but Still a Profit. Sorry I can't cry tears for these greedy bastards and to tell you the truth I'M MAD AS HELL AND SICK OF IT.....Just the way I see it.....doesn't mean ANYBODY Else has to think the way I do. BUT Bugsey.....I have the ability to write and record these types of songs and even if ONLY ONE person is moved in my direction I feel I've done MY JOB....and it's FUN.....

Sure, they CAN, but people are not in business to help you, they are in business to make money.

If you were a walton, you'd be thinking about your company.

It's all perspective, you are not a rich bloated slob, you could never understand being in their shoes.

Even people who came from nothing to build fortunes change when they are there.

Most of us dont get it, cause we struggle for life.

I'd LIKE to think I'd Be Different but maybe not. Still a worthwhile cause.

Hot topic, Barry — lol!

I’m with Iggy and Bugsey about the minimum wage issue.

Also, it seems wrong to be telling other people how they should spend their money. If I hire employees and I’m willing to offer them $5 an hour or $50 an hour … they should be free to take it or leave it.

Regarding “greedy” corporations … the top dogs at these corporations take a LOT of risk, so they deserve to make much more. Whose butt is going to sit in jail if something goes wrong? Certainly not the minimum wage worker at the counter. When I worked for corporations, the really tough decisions kept getting pushed up the line. I was always relieved when a thorny issue came my way and I could punt it up to my boss. But, the buck stops somewhere and someone has to make the very toughest of decisions.

Also, the laws in the US strangle businesses. If I owned a corporation and I had the choice of hiring more lawyers to make sure I’m not going to jail over some ridiculous law being broken, or raising the salaries of some workers … I’m hiring the lawyers.

My cousin passed away last year, but he started a window washing business in the Florida keys when he was 18, and he branched out to all sorts of services related to caring for a property. He had his business for 40 years.

About 15 years ago, he became certified to trim mangrove trees. It’s a very specialized business. However, if one of his employees cut down the wrong tree — it was my cousin who would literally end up in jail … not the employee. He was constantly worried, and I think he deserved a ton of money for that worry. ((We had a family friend who went to jail for five years because he cut down a protected tree on his property and didn’t know it was a protected tree.)

Lisa

I just respectively disagree. I've had it on youtube and facebook and sound click and I'm getting LOTS of responses mostly with ME. There ARE Millions that will agree with me. SO...we can agree to disagree. HEY my song has sparked a lot of interest and conversation AND THAT IS GREAT and the reason I wrote and posted it...lol....At lease I walk the walk....Great Comments ALL and I appreciate it. I DON'T mind differing ideas because that's what is wrong with the Country TODAY...too man monologues and not enough Dialogue....

Well Folks,
Having watched this whats-ya-call-it for more years than I care to remember you still can't get blood out of a turnip. All the proof you need is the over 18 Trillion Dollar Federal Debt. You can Google the Debt Clock for a first hand look. Simply handing somebody more money with nothing to back it up just causes something called inflation. You have more money but things cost more so you gain nothing. So where are we headed? Most likely we are going to ride that horse to death and then we are going to start over. A lot of big social spending programs were put in place after the Stock Market Crash of 1929 so it wouldn't happen again. It has been a glaring failure. The 18 Trillion Dollar Federal Debt proves it beyond any doubt. That old saying, IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT still rings true. Those that don't learn from the failures of the past, are bound to repeat them.

I agree about dialogue, Barry. Very important.

I'm not sure how you're walking the walk? If you had a bunch of employees and you were paying them more than minimum wage, even though your competitors were paying minimum wage ... that would be walking the walk.

Otherwise, it's talking the walk.

I'm writing songs about it to shine a light on it that's what I mean.

I am just some guy sitting here and DON'T have a lot of answers.
BUT I just feel that the entire system is in trouble. I don't know how it is changed but with a LARGE group of Tax Payers making very little money AND Still needing food stamps and housing to survive...that ain't a rosy scenario in my book. I feel generally that WE in this Country are of the Me, Myself & I Mentality and DON'T Feel part of the USA Community. It feels like we are just pulling apart instead of pulling together....Not a good mix. Henry Ford started paying his people more when he realized that the low salaries weren't enough for them to buy a car. OF Course Credit and Credit Cards have ruined the Country and the World. WHY would any sane individual who makes say $50,000 a year buy a House and pay it off for 30 years AND be stupid enough to PAY somebody to borrow the money. SOME Genius thought this up the market and sell people things that they can't afford and THEN charge them money for the money. If it weren't SO I wouldn't believe it.....lol If somebody told you a hundred years ago before this credit fiasco that they will have to borrow money and pay for the money the would have put you away somewhere. AND NOW as good as computers and the Internet are.....they are going to bring us all down a peg very soon. WE are TOTALLY dependent on the Machines and are SO Vulnerable. The average person has NO idea HOW Vulnerable. Electricity and the Internet and Banking and Computers that run our SUBS and Weapon System. Planes that fly by wire and all the money we pay on line and on and on and on it goes. WE have no back up and pretty soon ALL our advantages by having a powerful military will be for naught......It's the revenge of the Nerds. LOTS of PROBLEMS....I'm getting my Fishing Rod out and learning how to farm in my back yard as well as getting a well IF I CAN....lol

If I was King, I would put a substantial duty on imports and use the money generated to reduce income taxes. That would encourage reinvestment in US manufacturing and reduce the tax burden on people who need more disposal income. It would also upset the Asians so it will never happen.