the truth of the matter is

[Nebrfarmr]

Well, thank you for not singling me out, but that still doesn't answer my question.

Specifically, what do you think the minimum wage should be?

If you come up with a number we can agree on, I just might be a supporter of it.

[rawhide]

he knows he has painted himself in a corner. what saddens me is sometimes he makes a really good argument but here lately he's had some really bad ones

[kraft-t]

I'm not in a corner period! If you hire the john deere store to repair your tractor you pay by the hour but you don't pay wages. The owner of the store pays the wages and I assume he is subject to minimum wage laws.

What is so hard about that for you guys to understand. The minimum wage law does not determine wages. It merely determines MINIMUM wages. because people need to paid enough for basic sustenance. History has proven that given the option, businesses will hire as cheap as they can and that don't bode well for the menial workers.

[kraft-t]

I don't care what he charges. I will find one that charges less. Just like you find someone that charges less for seed corn or fertilizer. Again, I don't pay labor, he does. I assume he pays a good wage to keep his quality help, but then i don't know as it is not my concern nor would I ask him.

Do you care if your John deere tech gets paid $20 or $30 per hour. I know I used to pay the dealer $70 or $80 per hour and I didn't inquire about what he paid his help.

[Nebrfarmr]

So is it better to go to a JD dealer, who charges $90 an hour, and pays the shop help $40, or the one who charges $70 an hour, and pays the help minimum wage? Being a concerned citizen, wouldn't the right thing to do, was to be sure the workers your money pays, goes where the common worker gets the most, or do you go to the shop that will do the same job for less? That is what I am getting at. If you have a firm belief that everyone is better off with high wages, are you following through, or just hiring a job as reasonably as you can, regardless whether the guy pays top wages, or sweatshop rates? That is what we are up against. Everyone wants high wages, but they also want the job done at a reasonable price. The two goals are often contradictory.

[Nebrfarmr]

So all that talk of wanting people who could afford it, to dip a little deeper into their pockets, to pay the common laborer higher wages goes out the window. Reading your post it sounds as if those higher wages are reflected in a higher cost to yourself, you'd hire someone who charges less, regardless of what he pays his laborers. Isn't that contradictory?

[r3020]

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@Nebrfarmr wrote:
So all that talk of wanting people who could afford it, to dip a little deeper into their pockets, to pay the common laborer higher wages goes out the window. Reading your post it sounds as if those higher wages are reflected in a higher cost to yourself, you'd hire someone who charges less, regardless of what he pays his laborers. Isn't that contradictory?

---

No, that's progressive.

[Nebrfarmr]

So my question is HOW do you support a higher wage for the common man, if anytime the work you have done (or the product you buy) goes to the low bidder, instead of the best employer?  Doesn't that just encourage everyone to pay the lowest wages that they can get away with?

[Red Steele]

Don Kraft is consistently the biggest hypocrite to post on here. At times, you have to wonder if some of his posts are not tongue in cheek, if he really is laughing at the character he portrays. But then you realize he is not that deep of a thinker.

I think Don Kraft is a lot like Rush Limbaugh...large boviating specimens that excrete something that does not smell very well and goes by a vulgar four letter word. You would not want them in your home, and especailly around delicate company.

Don is a cutthroat capitalist, that personally believes in letting free enterprise do its work. I have no problem with that, and by doing this, Kraft actually helps America. The only problem I have with the guy is his hypocrisy, but everyone seems to see that in short order. And if we eliminated all the hypocrites from this country, we would not have a very large population.

God bless the hypocrites.

[kraft-t]

Flatter me all you want, I'm still not giving you my Bud Lite!