Why do you assume they just don't want to work? All of the good paying entry level jobs the majority of you over 40 types took as kids are gone. Wages have been stagnant since the 60's and a dollar is worth less now than it was ever before. I see people saying "don't live above your means" when people didn't chose to be born in LA or whatever city. Almost everyone in the world lives in a city and rural living is comparatively tiny. It's easy to say "get the crappy job and shutup" when the cost of living where you live is pennies compared to where the vast majority of people live.
I also get why a lot of rural kids don't want to work and lay around doing nothing. There is no future for most young people in rural areas. Most rural towns are dying with few jobs and no opportunity for real wages. Why should a young man break his back for poverty wages and then be unable to work in his 30's from being broken? We all know the stories of alcoholics and drug addicts in construction and other physically demanding jobs. I know plenty of soldiers that have destroyed their bodies, but at least we got compensated. Those 1099 employees that have broken bodies aren't getting a retirement, insurance, fair wages, or even the guarantee they will have a job in two weeks.
The system is broken and nobody should be forced to work more than 40 hours a week to survive. I think many of you simply don't understand what I'm talking about. I see some of you say "big bucks" when I'm talking about just having enough to pay for housing and food, which most cannot afford on minimum wage. Perhaps that is "big bucks" when talking about NYC or LA (which is over 40 million combined, just two cities), but those people deserve to live if they are willing to work hard for 40 hours a week. Many of you interpret what I'm saying as "Lazy people need living wages too!" You guys that are proud to have worked for 60+ hours every week just to make ends meet must not have enjoyed that. It must have been exhausting leaving you with an unfulfilled life. We are not simply slaves born to this world to do the bidding of the rich. Think about all of the children suffering and becoming autistics because their parents can't be home to raise them.
You all want to complain about boys becoming adults without any skills and *s-wordty attitudes, but that didn't happen by mistake. If you have both parents out of the house working two jobs each, who is going to raise the kid? If kids don't grow up wanting to sling wrenches or hammers, then who's fault is that? If you have a bunch of livestock getting sick from unclean living conditions do you blame the cows for not cleaning up? It is a parent's responsibility to raise their kids to be productive members of society, but that is very difficult if they are getting poverty wages and have to work 80 hours a week to pay the bills. If only those parents could just work normal hours to make sure their kids are well adjusted members of society.
Let me approach this from a different angle.
I have four kids. Two of mine and two step children. All four in their 30's and all married with families.
Three of the four are high achievers, with very strong work ethics. One attorney, one MBA and one bachelor degree. All worked hard, have been successful, and are enjoying a good life. They started working in their teens. The two boys worked for local farmers while in high school. The girl, who now has an MBA, worked as an aid, at a nursing home. All worked while in college as well.
The fourth, always did the bare minimum to get by. He loves working on cars. After high school, we sent him to Wyotech, hoping that he would get motivated after being in that environment. To assure that he finished, we made a deal. If he graduated, we would pay for school. If he dropped out, he paid.
He came back after graduating and had a number of good job offers. He worked at several shops but never stayed anywhere long. The excuse was always the same. The owners expected too much. These were good paying jobs that came with high expectations.
He finally landed at a small shop that didn't pay nearly as well but the expectations were much lower.
He's now 36 and claims that life isn't fair. His siblings all live in nice houses, drive nice cars and have the money to do what they want, while he struggles to get by. He wants to make more money but doesn't want to put forth the effort to get it.
This is the guy I'm talking about when I say I have trouble with people deserving a living wage. He had every opportunity to succeed but chose the easy path. Unfortunately the easy path didn't lead where he wanted.
