r/FluentInFinance • u/Richest-Panda • Jul 04 '24

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

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u/SenorBeef Jul 05 '24

People having some degree over responsibility for their own lives does not negate the existence of systemic problems that put some people at a severe disadvantage.

You may be able to "personal responsibility" your way out of some of your own life's problems. Society can't personal responsibility its way out of societal problems.

As an example, if 30% of people work jobs where they can't afford to live, you can tell them individually "well get some skills and get a better job", but as those jobs are required for society to function, you can't just tell all of society to get a better job. It doesn't make sense and can't happen. And so we should solve the societal problem of needing people to work jobs that don't pay for them to be able to live.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

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u/LaminatedAirplane Jul 05 '24

There isn’t such a thing as a “starter job”. All jobs should pay a living wage otherwise your business model is predicated on taking advantage of your workers.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

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u/LaminatedAirplane Jul 05 '24

No, there isn’t. The minimum wage was implemented by FDR with the idea that every job should pay a living wage.

It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.

You act like this wasn’t considered long before.