GullahGullahIslander
20049
619
5
Jun 19, 2026 11:48 AM
GullahGullahIslander
20049
619
5
MoxieMonster
Louder for the idiots from Oklahoma!
TheLastCircusBunny
Imagine the U.S. if corporations and the ultra-rich paid taxes like "the little people" do.
WillWasThere
AyatollahBahloni
Thanks, Uncle Ronnie.
imaynotbeasmartmanjenny
Explains why 30$ a hour feels like minimum wage
buttcreambandit
And if minimum wage (and other wages) increased like this everything would still be “affordable”. The problem is, and always has been, wealth hoarding
TheLiteraryMachine
It is $21 in Seattle at least. We've been able to claw some of it back. Compared to those losers in Oklahoma who literally just voted against it.
stultusaur
The solution to this is clearly stop working. All
Minimum wage employees just stop working.
It would turn around eventually
thatwoodguy
That area under the graph is proportional to how much money was stolen in those years. My estimation would put that at about 90 to 150 trillion dollars.
blfpd
https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
tmdkcyotes8
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1N2t3M2JwcTU3ZmM2YWI3azBjMDJ2MXFvbmN5cDhpMHRna3UzZ3J3cCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/kxlCT9EsEbqiEbCJbo/200w.webp
Frozenspokes
Oklahoma had a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage. The Oklahoma Republican party scheduled it to occur during the primary last Tuesday. A shrewd move as the Republican primary is the only election of consequence in the state. Un-shockingly, the measure was defeated.
melandevile2000
That’s not too bad. I make much more than that and still can’t afford anything. Let’s do it.
kurvarVillain
freakdiablo
Real talk, I graduated college in '13. Got my first salaried position in '14 - $52k/yr. Works out to $1k/wk, $25/hr, in a 40hr job. Not realistic as that includes PTO which an hourly won't likely get but stick with me. I snagged an apartment at a discount rate, maybe 35% lower than area average, and I was *breaking even* every month. Like if I wanted to take a Saturday, go grab a burger and a movie, I was eating apple sauce for dinner 3-4 nights that week. This was 10+ years ago.
DaisyfromDownunder
Capitalism did that across the globe/Flat Earth, depending on you state of mind.
B166ERMaximus
Imagine living in the U.S. … that’s the end of my analogy. Oof
HonestCommentFarmer
May Day? It's June!
or0b0ur0s
Inflation alone, NOT accounting for productivity gains, gets it to $20, easily.
And, TBH, modern business policy has stunted what productivity could be. Without dramatic under-staffing, inadequate pay, too many layers of middle-management bullies & unrepentantly toxic workplaces, and liberal use of WFH, productivity would skyrocket even higher.
mthrndr01
Hoo boy, now entering my mid-40s and just now entering the minimum wage my parents enjoyed in their first job
vericon151
And other salaries would have adjusted over that time. This would lesson the income discrepancies between “classes” . Inflation would be less.
PicassoCT
1970 the year Lockheed U-2 and the SR-71 + CORONA destroyed the negotiation leverage that was the soviet union
BeastofKnowledge
Magjee
$7.25 since July 24, 2009. Soon to be 17 years
mohavewolfpup
And in many areas it can be lesser then that for “training” or if you are underaged. Don’t forget the restaurant industry scam of “2.35/hr + tips” and the theft that goes on when companies are supposed to pay up to the minimum wage if tips won’t cover it (but more often then not doesn’t) Also see: tip outs/pooling in the same industry which has some workers showing up and working entirely for the boss and taking home nothing but a tax and fuel bill
Magjee
Yep, "Tipped Labour" can be paid $2.13/hr. As long as after they receive their tips, the gross hourly pay becomes at least $7.25/hr. IIRC, after tips people on average get $12-$14/hour, which is still disgracefully low for full time employment. And you risk being at $7.25 if business is slow.
CraftyGiant
If it kept pace with profit margins of major corporations it would be well over $40
icantbelieveistillhavetoprotestthiscrap
And it's not like 50k/year is that much in today's currency. Good lord we are broken.
snaptacular
if it'd kept up with the price of gold it'd be $200 an hour.
DYLANLEE79
People making $26 an hour will fight this because "Why should some kid flipping burgers make as much as I do!" And it makes me want to headbut an oncoming train.
MatrimBloodyCauthon
I hope you knock that train the fuck out
lukebagpiper2
As someone who makes about that, I'd be ecstatic cuz then I could ask for a raise. Rising tide lifts all ships
Vter3
The propaganda runs deep. We're raised with ideas like: minimum wage jobs are for teenagers to get spending cash, they aren't real jobs, that inflation will go wild if the minimum wage goes up.
InkyBlinkyPinkyAndClyde
Then they should only allow teenagers to have those jobs, and we'll see how that goes. These people don't want anything open during school hours, I guess. And there simply aren't enough teens to fill all the after-school hours, either.
QuantumInc
Raising minimum wage would probably improve their wages too. Not as much, but they would be in a better place to negotiate a raise.
zechor
"Not as much" but still likely to double it and that is why there would be inflation.
HOWEVER, if we almost immediately tied CEO compensation to that of the employees AND started taxing total compensation
AND enforced anti-trust laws
AND enforced profiteering laws
THEN we could probably avoid most of the inflation while raising the standard of living.
In another note, inflation may be the only stable way to bring down the cost of housing.
Kitehammer
"A rising tide lifts all boats" is way too complicated for the average American to understand.
MCFLYYY
It's not just about minimum wage though. It's all wages. Nobody's wages have kept pace with productivity in 50 years.
BeckyLookAtHerButt
Can we get reparations from those that legislated the system that enabled this and those that profited from it? I yearn for how much better would my life be if the minimum wage had kept pace.
Celphat
And then Universal basic income
somethingstupidandclever
BuT tHe PrIcE oF bIg MaCs!?!?
HandoB4Javert
MothMonsterMan
Id settle for a pound of their flesh
Condor3615
I'll have my bond! - Shylock
Gestalt7
The rich taste like pork
PileOfWalthers
When I served in the King's African Rifles, the local Zambezi tribesman called human flesh "long pig". Never much cared for it.
themuffulettaisalsoaverygoodsandwich
What am I not understanding about this chart? It shows the minimum wage in 1950 as $5/hr? Minimum wage wasn't even that high in the 90s. I worked construction for $4.25/hr in 1994. Is this just a bunch of bullshit?
NotAllowedToArgueUnlessYouPay
It is normalized against the ratio of wage-to-productivity that existed in 1968.
themuffulettaisalsoaverygoodsandwich
that's a great username. +1
StrangePaegan
"Value" of Federal Minimum Wage. In essence, it's adjusted not actual.
themuffulettaisalsoaverygoodsandwich
Thanks! Hate to say it but this perspective may be too academic for me. But my takeaway is that anyone working full time ought to be able to afford a comfortable life.
themuffulettaisalsoaverygoodsandwich
Actually my takeaway is more complicated than that. People ought to have a comfortable life regardless of work status.
RemoRules
It says minimum wage is displayed in 2023 dollars.
khora
The underlying thesis is also suspect. Don't tie the worth of workers to the performance of the company.
TheobromineAddict
And yet it looks like workers would benefit from doing that. However, I'd like to see minimum wage tied to a single persons cost of living in your area.
khora
I don't think the worker wages should depend on if the company buys a machine that improves productivity or hire a manager that tanks it.
ropetopus
Productivity measures are not measures of company performance. They’re measure of the economic value delivered by the workers, which it only seems fair the workers should benefit from.
khora
They are mostly a measure of how much you invest in machines to replace workers.
ropetopus
You mean how much the machines increase the productivity of workers, allowing the owners to extract more value from each worker.