@OanaTheMeerkat
I knew I was underpaid. I asked for my fair share in interviews. Nobody called back. No matter how low you ask, there is always someone who can work for less.
@BrendanMcClelland
One thing that needs to be done is to lower the cost of living, especially the cost of housing, and increase wages on top of that.
@sydneyhart
It sucks to be a worker in the US.
@scott2228
Only reason we aren’t living check to check in Colorado is bc: - 100% debt free - no kids I don’t know how other people make it. I was recently laid off. My new job got me a 30% pay CUT. Even though it’s a similar job in my 20 year career field. While everything is costing more $.
@djm2189
Valid points, the one that annoys me is peoples overspending. Im 29, earn $120k, single no kids, and no debt. Still unfortunately renting but do have 50k saved for a down payment. I drive a beat up used car, mostly eat at home, invest 13% of my income each paycheck. Ive got a net worth of $150k and this comes from me being a poor first gen American. Meanwhile i see so many people with half my income driving luxury cars, fancy this and that. People use credit to get things they cant afford naturally keeping prices high. If credit was removed watch how the economy would fall and prices would regulate. I want to buy and own something, they take out loans making my purchase price much higher. We need a recession, people need a reset.
@seanman1231
Two words: Ronald Reagan
@ghostfinder3673
Meanwhile the company overloards are earning more than a $100 million dollars in income and capital gains while living a luxurious lifestyle. The irony.
@itinnerantvagabond
The major corporations on the planet of our time earn enough in profits to pay the lowest skilled employees $100 an hour and there is still plenty of money in profits leftover. This debate is not even a debate, pay the employees fairly
@bmer92k86
It’s a question of supply and demand and 90% of it is because of women working women hadn’t entered the workforce in force until the 70s all of a sudden since the 70s wages are stagnant. Too many workers drive down wages
@jon6309
I live in Hawaii and work in banking. We definitely don’t make the same amount of money as the finance people on the mainland. I’m close to making $50k as an associate while the same position pays $70-$90k in New York but the pay hike doesn’t justify the rent and cost of living in NYC while I can crash with my parents in Hawaii to reduce my cost of living. The best way for my position to make money is either get a second job that is flexible and easy or job hop. I just saw a position open at a competitor and the salary range was $80k-$112k. My senior co-worker who was promoted to the same title and has been with the company for 30 years told me wow she doesn’t even make the minimum range of that job in her current role yet she qualifies for the job because it’s literally the same work but significantly more pay!
@DrDRE4391
Even low wage earners struggled in the 40s-70s, so an one minimum wage earner making enough for a middle-class lifestyle as viewed today is a fallacy. The average sized house then was 800 to 1,500 sq ft, 2 bedrooms (15%), 1 bath (20%). Each house had 1 TV, not TVs in many rooms as today and 50%-60% had no air-conditioning. There were no Cable, Streaming Services, Internet, or Cell Phones expenses. The household usually had only 1 car with 1 insurance, maintenance, and gas costs. Wardrobes were much less. Today, most closets are overflowing with clothes, many not worn. Many wives stayed home to take care of house and laundry chores, and to cook meals. Dining out was a treat. Child care costs were non-existent. Today, because of modern “necessities”, both have to work. This means frequently eating out as the wife is too tired to cook after work. Eating out consumes a huge portion of the disposable family income today. Today, there are many more teaser goods that people have to have. In the past it was fishing, sports, hunting gear, tools, and household decorations. Today its electronics, hobbies, recreational toys (boat, jet skis, all-terrain vehicles, etc. …), ticketed events, and the list goes on. Life was much simpler back then. A modern life requires so much more today. Also, the separation between GDP and Wages separated when Reagan got into office giving more to the wealthy. Taxes on the rich were greatly lowered with promises that a "rising tide would lift all boats" and the benefits would "trickle down to the masses". Well, that didn't happen.
@BrendanMcClelland
I was right. The United States is not the greatest country in the world. There’s countries doing better than us.
@MrKillswitch88
I wish those $60k-75k incomes were the norm but go outside the big cities and you get the bulk of the population subsisting on $40k a year often less. Really tired of how the working class is so often invisible to the needs and struggles of the middle classes who may as well have been born on third base never mind the wealthy classes.
@ChristinaOstil115
That is why I am still going to university and working simultaneously.
@BrendanMcClelland
I was right. The better days are behind us.
@wa7sa34cx
And what is the answer to the question? American workers have become so underpaid because they didn't ask their bosses to increase their wages?
@ryanretirement6662
People have to work until they die like a slave.
@kungdu
Me: What do you want to be when you grow up? Kid: A Teacher Me: What!? That's broke ass hell.
@my_yt-d6e
If things like NCAA sports weren't such a big thing, then college/university could be free/in-expensive - as is the case in much of Europe. So graduates could then be free of debt when they enter the work force and their existing salaries would likely help them to make ends meet. This and health care. If these two be better subsidized by the states/fed's, workers can soften the blow of other parts of the high cost of living.
@Joe.Riemam