Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Some folks make things up from  nothing to post here and then get ornery when anyone calls them out on it.

I'm ornery regardless what happens
but, y'all already know this

Minimum wage absolutely has to increase. People have to be paid a living wage. You cannot have levels of inequality in a society that right now have become the worst it's ever been- even worse since the roaring 20's. The minimum wage has been $7.25 for 11 years. Who the hell can live off of $7.25 an hour? Oh yeah, no one. Inflation exists. You know. We might not feel it as much as we should and it isn't runaway inflation in part because of the insane wealth gap in this country- but it is there. No one can live off of $7.25 an hour. That's why you have millions of employees from Walmart or McDonald's living on government subsidies.

Whether we like it or not- millions of people are stuck into low paying jobs. Why? OFF-SHORING. Things like NAFTA and the permanent normalizing of trade relations with China- which lead to China joining the WTO- have absolutely destroyed and gutted millions of good paying American manufacturing jobs. Michigan alone- which was the epicenter of manufacturing in the US- lost half of all of it's manufacturing jobs from 2000-2008 alone. Why? A lot of those plants/jobs were out-sourced off to China. I know a little bit about this shit because my grandfather is in that business. He used to have stupid retarded cash flow in the 70s, 80s, and even 90s. He was selling machines and parts every single day. He had money coming out of his ass. He used to carry around $20,000 in cash on him at all times. That shit is GONE. Most of his customers have been wiped out or gone to China or Mexico. Not as easy to do business in other countries as it is in your own backyard.

Cannot stand when people say- hey just find a better job. Like it's really so simple or that easy. Reminds me of the idiots in the Democratic party that say hey- just shut up and learn to code.

Why, you listed:

• Off-shoring.  
• NAFTA.  
• Normalized Trade Relations with China.  

You missed the biggest one, the elephant in the room, immigration.  

Off-shoring, NAFTA, and Chinese imports have certainly cost a LOT of American jobs but one type of job is completely safe from all of those.  That is any service that HAS to be done locally like contractors be they HVAC, roofers, lawncare, whatever.  None of that can be off-shored, shifted to Mexico (NAFTA), or shifted to China because it HAS to be done locally.  If your roof leaks you need someone to come to YOUR house and fix it.  You can't pay some Chinese kid in Wuhan $0.50 to fix it because he isn't here.  

it was, Or something

Politicians and most liberals don't use logic so lets come up with that "other" approach

There is the concept of the free market that a worker willing to work for $X and an employer willing to pay that strike a bargain and government is not involved.

We could need protections for individuals who are mentally challenged, perhaps.

Just set it to $12 with a COLA and move on to other issues, I say.

I'm sure there are unfortunate places  of poverty in America that better jobs are not available.  And those folks do need options that include better pay than $7.25

I'm very fortunate.  Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota don't have large groups of people living in similar hopeless conditions.

It's easy enough to get a better job here.  You may be required to actually show up and give some effort, and you may be asked to pee in a cup once in a while, but there are companies here that have had $15-$20/hour job openings for years that they aren't able to fill.  Even with illegal immigrants taking jobs.

What are the jobs? (Not snarky, just curious)

Why, you listed:

• Off-shoring. 
• NAFTA. 
• Normalized Trade Relations with China. 

You missed the biggest one, the elephant in the room, immigration. 

Off-shoring, NAFTA, and Chinese imports have certainly cost a LOT of American jobs but one type of job is completely safe from all of those.  That is any service that HAS to be done locally like contractors be they HVAC, roofers, lawncare, whatever.  None of that can be off-shored, shifted to Mexico (NAFTA), or shifted to China because it HAS to be done locally.  If your roof leaks you need someone to come to YOUR house and fix it.  You can't pay some Chinese kid in Wuhan $0.50 to fix it because he isn't here. 

Immigration is good. Not bad. I don't know how other states are- but in Florida- you can't just call some immigrant to come fix your roof. Licenses/insurances- they take that shit seriously. They investigate it 24/7 and if they catch people doing work without that shit- they don't just get fined they arrest them and put them in jail.