The Economic Policy Institute has a great collection of articles and charts and statistics that show just how important a minimum wage is in this country, and why it needs to be higher. Some people have always argued that the minimum wage will hurt low income workers by erasing jobs, but it has never happened. It transfers wealth to the lower section of our economy, which can lead to overall job growth. Wall Street folks may not like it, but Wall Street likes plenty of unemployment too, to keep labor cheap and profits high.
My car's problem isn't mechanical or making it unsafe. The air conditioner has stopped working 3 times and the sunroof is still leaking after 5 attempts by the dealer to correct. As a result of the leaking my car seems like it has been through a flood with the mildew and stagnant smell associated with it. The dealer and manufacturer have told me they are doing everything they can to make it like new again but the joy is gone. It's only 4 months old with less than 6,000 miles. Is it still a lemon with these problems? I am getting nowhere with the dealer or manufacturer in getting a buy back.
I started tracking my grocery spending at the beginning of May because I knew that was the last area of my budget that was sort of a mess - my budget said I had X # of dollars to spend each month on groceries but I was pretty sure I was over spending...OK I was in denial as to how bad it was but I knew something was off because I wasn't really getting ahead financially and I new the answer was in this category.
I have been tracking every grocery expenditure (this includes non-food items purchased in a grocery store or Costco) for three months now and it has been extremely easy (I thought it would be such a pain). I just save the receipts I get from everywhere and every week or so I pull out the receipts and key in the data on an Excel spreadsheet. I track what I bought (ie. bread, milk), where and when I bought it as well as leaving myself notes (ie. excellent sale, buy-one-get-one, etc) so that I can determine which items go on sale when with the hope that in the future I can buy enough of these items on sale to last until the next sale.
What I have learned is that I was spending WAY more on food than I budgeted for (some times double my budget). When I analysed my spending after two months, I was able to figure out where I was going off the rails (ie. too much junk food). Now I just avoid these sections of the store or reduce how much I buy...it has only been 23 days since I took the time to really analyse my spending but I've been on track ever since then and haven't felt the least bit deprived.
For me, the tracking has just given me clarity on an area that needed cleaning up and the real reason I hadn't done it earlier was because I didn't want to change my behaviour. Now that this area is under control I have started making double car payments so should be able to pay my car off this year instead of next. Not bad for a little bit of time spent tracking...and my waist line should benefit as well!
A few of you have come up with extreme examples - a really, really expensive task that you'd rather do yourself for obvious budgetary reasons - but you're forgetting about the value of your time outside of getting paid at work for it. What about the value of spending time with your spouse or with your kids? What about the value of spending time pursuing your non-career goals, such as reading, learning another language, exercising or playing sports, volunteering, or other life goals that improve your self, your confidence, your happiness and ultimately, also improve your performance at work (leading to a better job or a raise)?
Or on a really basic level, what about paying someone to do a task that you would do yourself on a Saturday morning so that you can perform another task on your to-do list at the same time?
I grew up in a DIY-until-you're-about-to-die family. We call someone in when we've almost electrocuted ourselves, or have fallen off the roof once and almost cracked our skulls. When I came into a fixer-upper house, I had to revise my philosophy a bit. I was devastated by the amount of work I had to do, outside of work.
Some things that have to be done on a regular basis are not as expensive as a full paint job, but can take a very serious chunk of your energy away when you're genuinely not very good at them. It has nothing to do with "not feeling like it." I'm genuinely, genuinely bad at tending my yard. It takes me 20 minutes to start the lawn mower. I can spend hours clearing weeds out of a bed, but I'm very slow at it and only cover several square feet. I try and I try and I try, and I *want* to do it myself, I *want* to not pay someone else to do it.
But you know what? The amount of energy I spend trying hard to do something I'm not good at is a negative return. I have little time left over to relax, to not worry about what I haven't gotten done, to pay attention to friendships and hobbies because I spend all my time focusing on these chores.
If, on the other hand, I pay a lawn guy $40 a month to mow my lawn and generally keep my front yard clear of weeds, what do I gain? It's more than $40 worth, I can tell you that. The freed-up time, the regained energy, and the simple, relaxing act of looking out my front window in relief and not dismay.
And EVEN if I got paid as little as $8/hour, a fraction of 1 work day (out of a whole month) going towards this benefit exceeds the 12+ hours I would have spent trying, not very efficiently, to do it all myself.
It's generally accepted in the workplace to "focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses."
The concept applies to all work, not just your job.
I'll speak up against expense tracking, although I do it (for my sins). It does take a fair amount of time; five minutes a day adds up to a whole day to catch up on crap over the course of a year. And I have never noticed any benefit -- never caught any fraud, never noticed any patterns I wanted to change, never cut my spending. Most persuasively (to me), the money-savviest people I know say it's a waste of time.
I suspect that it's a good short-term exercise for people who don't know where their money is going. For those who do, it's just a bad habit, and one I wish I could break.
I agree tracking your spending will give you a great picture of your values. If you are lazy like me and don't want to keep your track of your receipts and pay everything by debit or credit card I would suggest using www.mint.com it is a great site that combines all of you transactions so you can have complete picture.
I hate tracking where my money goes, but when I started doing this in January 08, we realized something akin to a 15% increase in household salary. Our income didn't really increase, but we got choosier about where we spent our money. In May, I had major surgery and NONE of it went on credit! We saved up the money before we needed it--a new concept for us and one we will not stray from again. We will be debt free in 3 years.
I track my expenses now and again, I can't seem to do it on regular basis though.
The one thing I always see when I do this is less spending on my part. Having to write down what you spend makes you less likely to spend in the first place, I think that is the big take away from tracking your spending.
Very well put. If you have never tracked your spending, you really need to do it at least once. I thought I knew where all my money was going, but I was quite surprised when I finally tracked all of it.
Honestly, not tracking your spending seems rather foolish. Can you expect to run a successful business without knowing where your money goes? Why would your own spending be any different?
To all those who believe in a government set minimum wage, it makes no sense. As others have pointed out, if helping out people on the lowest rung of the economic ladder, why stop at $8?
Make it $15 - $25 - heck - $75 or $100 per hour. Why not?
Oh, I forgot, the incredibly 'smart' bureaucrats in government know so much more than the market.
First, I agree that the minimum was is destructive to the young, the uneducated (high school drop-outs, etc.), the inexperienced, the immigrants. Ask yourself if you are inexperienced - would you rather get an experience or a high paying job? You get experience and then climb up the paying ladder. For example, the teenage unemployment is quite high (in 20% or more). These teenagers would most likely get a job if the cost to employ them was not set by the socialists/politicians artificially high.
Second, if you care about the "poor," why don't you set the minimum wage at $50/hour? What the heck, make it $100/hour. Imagine how you can raise the standard of living!?!? Isn't it the "compassionate" thing to do? Hehe... not exactly, because many jobs at $100/hour will be instantly eliminated, thus rendering those intended "victims" unemployed.
Third, the unions are in favor of the minimum wage, because at the bargaining table they say, "hey, look at those stupid, ignorant, unskilled bums who are getting $8/hour. You can't give us $8/hour, we deserve $14/hour as a starting salary." The cost is passed to the consumers and we pay for it. No wonder, many unionized manufacturing jobs are being lost, because of the artificially set prices (for labor) by all-knowing politicians.
Lastly, the free market, albeit not perfect, is so much better than the centralized, planned, socialist economy. Sadly, there are more and more sectors in the economy of the USA that are turning socialist and/or semi-socialist.
P.S. Who is in favor of raising the minimum wage to $23.75/hour? If you oppose it, you are "mean, cruel, uncaring beast who has no heart."
Vitamin D deficiency is really common due to people being inside all the time and can cause people to feel lousy, have more pain or make other symptoms worse.
The amount of over medication is also a big issue. Doctors put people on statin drugs without even trying anything else. Statin drugs have some significant side effects including chronic muscle pain that in some cases can become permanent even after quitting the drug. I have found that most doctors don't even know what the side effects of the drugs they prescribe are, let alone tell patients.
People have to understand that minimum wage laws HURT the poor. They help the trained/experienced blue collar (read: the average union member), at the detriment of their untrained/inexperienced peers.
To see this, let's say you are an entrepreneur and you have a boring, generic job available that adds little value; e.g. cleaning. Thz market rate is 5 dollar per hour, but the government says 8 dollar is the minimum wage. What are you going to do?
You are NOT going to give the person you employ at 5 dollar a raise to 8 dollar. Why?
1. At 8 dollars, cleaning may become too expensive. You end up with dirty restaurants or with overinvestment in labor replacing technology.
2. If you can afford cleaning at 8 dollars and are forced to pay this much, you will hire the best possible employee for that amount of money. At 8 dollar, you can afford someone with skills, prior experience, better attitude, ...
So, minimum wage results in:
1. Unemployment among the unskilled, inexperienced and alien workers. These people could have found a job if the market was allowed to employ them, but they are not (because of a 'social' measure!).
2. Wages for experienced and skilled workers increase, as supply is artificially limited (no more unskilled can become skilled) and demand increases (employers are forced to hire on your pay/skill level).
3. The unskilled, inexperienced, immigrants lose hope and end up in the black markets where they are paid their market rate; drugs, crime, cleaning without the employer protection, ...
4. The unintented consequence of point 3 is that socialists will ask for more socialists to protect the poor from capitalism, while it is the lack of market access that kept these people poor. These politicians get elected on things like 'the poor keep getting poorer'.
5. Overinvestment in technology, an industry that generally employs highly educated people.
So, if you want to help a bunch of union militants and technology geeks, raise the minimum tax! If you want to help the poor, eliminate all taxes and let the market ride. It's the same market that makes that poor people in the Western world* now live longer and with much more comfort than Rockefeller!
* Why only in the western world you ask me? Failure of capitalism? Not really, as long as socialists keep subsidizing western farmers, the agricultural sector will never develop fully in the third world countries. And this is the primary sector as we all know. Just look at how Brazil begs the USA and the EU to open up agricultural trade at the Doha Round. The world needs more trade, not less!
There should be some restriction on #4. Exposure to sun minus sunscreen early in the morning is best, as it boost the production of vitamin D which in turn promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphate from food and is essential in the formation of bones and teeth. A deficiency of Vitamin D leads to a failure of the bones to grow and causes rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. Recent research also suggests that Vitamin D can help reduce the risks of colon, breast and prostate cancer.
Nice post to have about the health care!!.Health is very important for every one,with out proper health we can't do any thing,so we have to take care of it.From the site i got more details of health care thanks for sharing!!
Some of the posts are saying that you only need a digital converter box if you don't receive cable and have rabbit ears. But some people get cable without a special cable box. I have a tv that my cable goes right into the tv without a special cable box. I will still need a converter box because the tv is analog not digital.
Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone.
I read an article years ago that suggested drinking two glasses of Gatorade for bad headaches. I've found that doing this (and closing my eyes for a few minutes after) usually helps. I suppose this works on headaches that are caused by dehydration or perhaps by a lack of some basic minerals (magnesium, etc.)
I've also found that using a saline sinus rinse (like with a Neti pot) on a regular basis really helps with my sinus headaches. It's amazing that something this simple helps with sinus pressure, but it does. Good luck, everyone!
Interesting post and comments and I would like to share my experience. When I bought my house I could not pay cash, but I did pay it off in 4.5 years. When I was looking at paying it off I wanted to know what my tax advantage of the mortgage interest deduction was. I did my taxes, federal only, without the mortgage interest, and then again with. The reduction in my tax bill was only 22.5% of the mortgage interest. So in my opinion the tax advantaged nature of a mortgage is somewhat overstated.
The Economic Policy Institute has a great collection of articles and charts and statistics that show just how important a minimum wage is in this country, and why it needs to be higher. Some people have always argued that the minimum wage will hurt low income workers by erasing jobs, but it has never happened. It transfers wealth to the lower section of our economy, which can lead to overall job growth. Wall Street folks may not like it, but Wall Street likes plenty of unemployment too, to keep labor cheap and profits high.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/issueguides_minwage
And that's what I get for typing to fast and not using spellcheck. Thanks for that.
My car's problem isn't mechanical or making it unsafe. The air conditioner has stopped working 3 times and the sunroof is still leaking after 5 attempts by the dealer to correct. As a result of the leaking my car seems like it has been through a flood with the mildew and stagnant smell associated with it. The dealer and manufacturer have told me they are doing everything they can to make it like new again but the joy is gone. It's only 4 months old with less than 6,000 miles. Is it still a lemon with these problems? I am getting nowhere with the dealer or manufacturer in getting a buy back.
the tide is changing.
the entire marketing world is starting to flip from one where the business said things to one whre the consumer is in control.
it is a weird shift. but it is real
Mark
I started tracking my grocery spending at the beginning of May because I knew that was the last area of my budget that was sort of a mess - my budget said I had X # of dollars to spend each month on groceries but I was pretty sure I was over spending...OK I was in denial as to how bad it was but I knew something was off because I wasn't really getting ahead financially and I new the answer was in this category.
I have been tracking every grocery expenditure (this includes non-food items purchased in a grocery store or Costco) for three months now and it has been extremely easy (I thought it would be such a pain). I just save the receipts I get from everywhere and every week or so I pull out the receipts and key in the data on an Excel spreadsheet. I track what I bought (ie. bread, milk), where and when I bought it as well as leaving myself notes (ie. excellent sale, buy-one-get-one, etc) so that I can determine which items go on sale when with the hope that in the future I can buy enough of these items on sale to last until the next sale.
What I have learned is that I was spending WAY more on food than I budgeted for (some times double my budget). When I analysed my spending after two months, I was able to figure out where I was going off the rails (ie. too much junk food). Now I just avoid these sections of the store or reduce how much I buy...it has only been 23 days since I took the time to really analyse my spending but I've been on track ever since then and haven't felt the least bit deprived.
For me, the tracking has just given me clarity on an area that needed cleaning up and the real reason I hadn't done it earlier was because I didn't want to change my behaviour. Now that this area is under control I have started making double car payments so should be able to pay my car off this year instead of next. Not bad for a little bit of time spent tracking...and my waist line should benefit as well!
A few of you have come up with extreme examples - a really, really expensive task that you'd rather do yourself for obvious budgetary reasons - but you're forgetting about the value of your time outside of getting paid at work for it. What about the value of spending time with your spouse or with your kids? What about the value of spending time pursuing your non-career goals, such as reading, learning another language, exercising or playing sports, volunteering, or other life goals that improve your self, your confidence, your happiness and ultimately, also improve your performance at work (leading to a better job or a raise)?
Or on a really basic level, what about paying someone to do a task that you would do yourself on a Saturday morning so that you can perform another task on your to-do list at the same time?
I grew up in a DIY-until-you're-about-to-die family. We call someone in when we've almost electrocuted ourselves, or have fallen off the roof once and almost cracked our skulls. When I came into a fixer-upper house, I had to revise my philosophy a bit. I was devastated by the amount of work I had to do, outside of work.
Some things that have to be done on a regular basis are not as expensive as a full paint job, but can take a very serious chunk of your energy away when you're genuinely not very good at them. It has nothing to do with "not feeling like it." I'm genuinely, genuinely bad at tending my yard. It takes me 20 minutes to start the lawn mower. I can spend hours clearing weeds out of a bed, but I'm very slow at it and only cover several square feet. I try and I try and I try, and I *want* to do it myself, I *want* to not pay someone else to do it.
But you know what? The amount of energy I spend trying hard to do something I'm not good at is a negative return. I have little time left over to relax, to not worry about what I haven't gotten done, to pay attention to friendships and hobbies because I spend all my time focusing on these chores.
If, on the other hand, I pay a lawn guy $40 a month to mow my lawn and generally keep my front yard clear of weeds, what do I gain? It's more than $40 worth, I can tell you that. The freed-up time, the regained energy, and the simple, relaxing act of looking out my front window in relief and not dismay.
And EVEN if I got paid as little as $8/hour, a fraction of 1 work day (out of a whole month) going towards this benefit exceeds the 12+ hours I would have spent trying, not very efficiently, to do it all myself.
It's generally accepted in the workplace to "focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses."
The concept applies to all work, not just your job.
I'll speak up against expense tracking, although I do it (for my sins). It does take a fair amount of time; five minutes a day adds up to a whole day to catch up on crap over the course of a year. And I have never noticed any benefit -- never caught any fraud, never noticed any patterns I wanted to change, never cut my spending. Most persuasively (to me), the money-savviest people I know say it's a waste of time.
I suspect that it's a good short-term exercise for people who don't know where their money is going. For those who do, it's just a bad habit, and one I wish I could break.
There, I've said it.
I agree tracking your spending will give you a great picture of your values. If you are lazy like me and don't want to keep your track of your receipts and pay everything by debit or credit card I would suggest using www.mint.com it is a great site that combines all of you transactions so you can have complete picture.
I hate tracking where my money goes, but when I started doing this in January 08, we realized something akin to a 15% increase in household salary. Our income didn't really increase, but we got choosier about where we spent our money. In May, I had major surgery and NONE of it went on credit! We saved up the money before we needed it--a new concept for us and one we will not stray from again. We will be debt free in 3 years.
I track my expenses now and again, I can't seem to do it on regular basis though.
The one thing I always see when I do this is less spending on my part. Having to write down what you spend makes you less likely to spend in the first place, I think that is the big take away from tracking your spending.
Very well put. If you have never tracked your spending, you really need to do it at least once. I thought I knew where all my money was going, but I was quite surprised when I finally tracked all of it.
Honestly, not tracking your spending seems rather foolish. Can you expect to run a successful business without knowing where your money goes? Why would your own spending be any different?
To all those who believe in a government set minimum wage, it makes no sense. As others have pointed out, if helping out people on the lowest rung of the economic ladder, why stop at $8?
Make it $15 - $25 - heck - $75 or $100 per hour. Why not?
Oh, I forgot, the incredibly 'smart' bureaucrats in government know so much more than the market.
Right?
...that is increased by orgasm. Try "oxytocin," which is a hormone, not a narcotic.
First, I agree that the minimum was is destructive to the young, the uneducated (high school drop-outs, etc.), the inexperienced, the immigrants. Ask yourself if you are inexperienced - would you rather get an experience or a high paying job? You get experience and then climb up the paying ladder. For example, the teenage unemployment is quite high (in 20% or more). These teenagers would most likely get a job if the cost to employ them was not set by the socialists/politicians artificially high.
Second, if you care about the "poor," why don't you set the minimum wage at $50/hour? What the heck, make it $100/hour. Imagine how you can raise the standard of living!?!? Isn't it the "compassionate" thing to do? Hehe... not exactly, because many jobs at $100/hour will be instantly eliminated, thus rendering those intended "victims" unemployed.
Third, the unions are in favor of the minimum wage, because at the bargaining table they say, "hey, look at those stupid, ignorant, unskilled bums who are getting $8/hour. You can't give us $8/hour, we deserve $14/hour as a starting salary." The cost is passed to the consumers and we pay for it. No wonder, many unionized manufacturing jobs are being lost, because of the artificially set prices (for labor) by all-knowing politicians.
Lastly, the free market, albeit not perfect, is so much better than the centralized, planned, socialist economy. Sadly, there are more and more sectors in the economy of the USA that are turning socialist and/or semi-socialist.
P.S. Who is in favor of raising the minimum wage to $23.75/hour? If you oppose it, you are "mean, cruel, uncaring beast who has no heart."
Unnecessary spending may cause you to avoid necessary commodities that you really need.
Vitamin D deficiency is really common due to people being inside all the time and can cause people to feel lousy, have more pain or make other symptoms worse.
The amount of over medication is also a big issue. Doctors put people on statin drugs without even trying anything else. Statin drugs have some significant side effects including chronic muscle pain that in some cases can become permanent even after quitting the drug. I have found that most doctors don't even know what the side effects of the drugs they prescribe are, let alone tell patients.
People have to understand that minimum wage laws HURT the poor. They help the trained/experienced blue collar (read: the average union member), at the detriment of their untrained/inexperienced peers.
To see this, let's say you are an entrepreneur and you have a boring, generic job available that adds little value; e.g. cleaning. Thz market rate is 5 dollar per hour, but the government says 8 dollar is the minimum wage. What are you going to do?
You are NOT going to give the person you employ at 5 dollar a raise to 8 dollar. Why?
1. At 8 dollars, cleaning may become too expensive. You end up with dirty restaurants or with overinvestment in labor replacing technology.
2. If you can afford cleaning at 8 dollars and are forced to pay this much, you will hire the best possible employee for that amount of money. At 8 dollar, you can afford someone with skills, prior experience, better attitude, ...
So, minimum wage results in:
1. Unemployment among the unskilled, inexperienced and alien workers. These people could have found a job if the market was allowed to employ them, but they are not (because of a 'social' measure!).
2. Wages for experienced and skilled workers increase, as supply is artificially limited (no more unskilled can become skilled) and demand increases (employers are forced to hire on your pay/skill level).
3. The unskilled, inexperienced, immigrants lose hope and end up in the black markets where they are paid their market rate; drugs, crime, cleaning without the employer protection, ...
4. The unintented consequence of point 3 is that socialists will ask for more socialists to protect the poor from capitalism, while it is the lack of market access that kept these people poor. These politicians get elected on things like 'the poor keep getting poorer'.
5. Overinvestment in technology, an industry that generally employs highly educated people.
So, if you want to help a bunch of union militants and technology geeks, raise the minimum tax! If you want to help the poor, eliminate all taxes and let the market ride. It's the same market that makes that poor people in the Western world* now live longer and with much more comfort than Rockefeller!
* Why only in the western world you ask me? Failure of capitalism? Not really, as long as socialists keep subsidizing western farmers, the agricultural sector will never develop fully in the third world countries. And this is the primary sector as we all know. Just look at how Brazil begs the USA and the EU to open up agricultural trade at the Doha Round. The world needs more trade, not less!
I just read your #1 tip with the boyfriend, who couldn't stop laughing! Great article :)
There should be some restriction on #4. Exposure to sun minus sunscreen early in the morning is best, as it boost the production of vitamin D which in turn promotes the absorption of calcium and phosphate from food and is essential in the formation of bones and teeth. A deficiency of Vitamin D leads to a failure of the bones to grow and causes rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. Recent research also suggests that Vitamin D can help reduce the risks of colon, breast and prostate cancer.
Nice post to have about the health care!!.Health is very important for every one,with out proper health we can't do any thing,so we have to take care of it.From the site i got more details of health care thanks for sharing!!
Some of the posts are saying that you only need a digital converter box if you don't receive cable and have rabbit ears. But some people get cable without a special cable box. I have a tv that my cable goes right into the tv without a special cable box. I will still need a converter box because the tv is analog not digital.
Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone.
I read an article years ago that suggested drinking two glasses of Gatorade for bad headaches. I've found that doing this (and closing my eyes for a few minutes after) usually helps. I suppose this works on headaches that are caused by dehydration or perhaps by a lack of some basic minerals (magnesium, etc.)
I've also found that using a saline sinus rinse (like with a Neti pot) on a regular basis really helps with my sinus headaches. It's amazing that something this simple helps with sinus pressure, but it does. Good luck, everyone!
Simple, very easy. I like numero uno the best.
Yeah, I kind of have a feeling that it does, but I can't seem to find proof.
Interesting post and comments and I would like to share my experience. When I bought my house I could not pay cash, but I did pay it off in 4.5 years. When I was looking at paying it off I wanted to know what my tax advantage of the mortgage interest deduction was. I did my taxes, federal only, without the mortgage interest, and then again with. The reduction in my tax bill was only 22.5% of the mortgage interest. So in my opinion the tax advantaged nature of a mortgage is somewhat overstated.