Fair, but given the current number, an increase to $10.10 is significantly more feasible than $15. On top of that, as you've mentioned before, it hasn't kept pace. So yeah maybe raising it in the past hasn't caused disruption, but that's almost certainly due to how comically low it was both before and after the increase.

I'll gladly change my tune if the McDonalds situation proves me wrong, but again, stagnant wages are a symptom, not the problem.

Its not easily fixed, and I'm perfectly willing to admit I don't have any concrete solutions. I can however, identify the main blockers. First, companies can and do tell us to fuck off when we try to regulate them by force. The only way to get them to cooperate is to massage the system in such a way that their greed can only be satiated by a successful, well represented middle class. I don't know how the hell to do that, but in our current world enacting socialism would unfortunately destroy our country economically as companies flee our shores for more business friendly countries. We'd have a great moral and humanitarian victory to show, but we'd all be extremely poor, just equally poor.

Right and the argument being made is if the progress were more even that would help. You're locking into the wages and productivity being disconnected, and we're saying that it can be acceptable as long as buying power is evenly increasing. We know its not happening now, that's why everything we're talking about is prefixed with "we should" and not "we do."

I assume you're still talking about the7egend's initial post, since I just argued for increasing wages and cheapening goods. (not sure how you could see that only improving the lives of the elite)

What he's (I believe) trying to get at is just increasing people's buying power without increasing their wages. I think its only half a solution, especially since its already happening everywhere. The price of a 50 inch TV is less today than its ever been, even without inflation adjustments. So while increasing people's buying power wouldn't only benefit the elite, its a bit of a half measure for a healthy economy.

Goods would be cheaper while the elite would make the same % profit. That said, an ideal situation involves both. Cheapening the cost to produce and the price to buy goods through efficiency along with rising wages doubly improves the average Joe's buying power while allowing company to maintain similar profits, if not improve them through economic health.

Despite being an otherwise shit movie, I thought Blackhat actually did an okay job.

I feel the same way, the "pride" people take in working 60+ hour weeks is sad and so counter productive. Your employer would never just give you free money, so why are you giving them free labor with a smile?

I can see you're approaching this from the human dignity angle, but I'm talking about the reality that exists now. Right now we have people paying taxes out of their salaries that they work, to varying degrees, very hard for. When the government uses those taxes to spend $80 on a hammer when a hammer that works just as well is available for $40, that is a failure of the social contract.

End result is this, if the rest of us are expected to work all day to pay for the roads, the people making the roads should be expected to work all day too.

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but no, I've not. If we adopted that stance nationwide prices of everything would skyrocket and our economy would be unable to compete. I don't see why expecting the government to use the money we pay in taxes efficiently can be considered a bad thing.

I'd rather the existing money just be used more efficiently. Any time this comes up, I immediately think of the classic road worker scene involving a bunch of them standing around watching one worker do a task. A lengthy explanation has been provided for the phenomena involving unions, specialized training, etc. but the reality is that other industries don't waste human resources the way road construction does. Our infrastructure is decaying and should be improved, but I think the money to do it is already there. Its just being squandered.

That, and electric vehicles are currently expensive and mass transit is confined to cities.