290 Comments

That changes in demand lead to.larger and more durable changes in prices (or wages) than changes in supply is Econ 101. It was literally the fourth chapter when I studied Macro. It's amazing how the plutocratic class has been able to con people for so long about it.

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Many of them in CA are prison inmates, and they're paid less than even that.

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WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS were among the underpaid employees? The fuck????

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I think you see it more in those with earned wealth rather than inherited wealth. The trust fund brats can't imagine their lives ever changing for the worse. Those who worked their way up from a lesser status know those things can change, and they can do it awful fast if the conditions are right.

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In any dick-measuring contest, there is only one standard. Who. Has. More.

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What. An. Ass.

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My first job not working for a family member was when I was 11. I helped the neighbor caponize a bunch of chickens. He paid me the minimum wage, $1.25/hour. Of course, he paid me in cash, and I bet he didn't report it.

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Bought the granddaughter a car when she turned 18, two months after she graduated. 2016 Nissan Altima. It was a lot more than anything above, but she's got safe, reliable transportation.

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I worked as dishwasher at a steak house. At the end of the night, I got the metal containers from the salad bad with the dressing to be washed. Hitting the bleu cheese container with the sprayer, I'd get a big cloud of bleu cheese steam in the face. Couldn't eat bleu cheese dressing for years.

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Yes, I know it's by job classification, and varies further by location. (I do wage law for a living, man.)

I looked up the average. But your source is more comprehensive for national averages generally.

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Average as to prevailing (which, yes, varies, I know, I do this for a living), not as to wages generally. Purpose being to get a sense of general average the feds pay contractors, as contrasted with the new minimum for direct employees.

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They don't become cops to work as computer geeks, they "wanna get the bad guy" and be a hero. Even within police departments their IT staff is never allowed to even assist with collecting evidence (at least in the six departments I've worked with), they go to outside contractors because they look down on the IT nerds. If there isn't the funding available to hire contractors the cops will fumble around themselves until they accidentally stumble on something or give up, they won't ask the IT guys for help. It's a ridiculous mindset.

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Even David Stockman admits that 'supply side economics' is bunkum, and that they knew it at the time he was its loudest promoter.

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It's a ridiculous mindset that equates "good policing" and promotions with sheet numbers of arrests no matter how bogus and funds military weapons and Warrior Training for cops who live hours from their jurisdiction rather than training locals how to talk to locals. It has never really been about enforcing the law and protecting the public. It has always been about thuggish "control." It fails even the capitalists, who should not have to spend hundreds of billions a year on private cops to do what real cops won't.

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Also too, if I was an IT nerd who wanted to bolster my manhood cred a bit, I would LOVE to.take my degree to the local big city department, get sent to the Police Academy, and do my IT thing stopping crime with a badge. The whole thing is a stupid waste.

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The only reason that this is even being discussed today is because Amazon raised its minimum pay for all workers to $15/hr without reservations. At the time Democrats in Congress were talking about *possibly* raising it to $10/hr over five years. Say what you will about Bezos, but he had to have personally approved the change. He knew that they couldn't retain competent employees if they continued to allow their contractors to pay inadequately.

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