Bernie Sanders' $15 An Hour Wage Won't Work
Because I and hundreds of thousands like me, with anywhere from six to fifteen years of experience in our low-level, medicine-field positions, and with multiple-years of national certification, having passed the three-hour technical exams (including lots of science and math) and/or paying for a bona fide classroom course to prepare for these national certification exams, and paying $50 a year to remain registered with our states, and $120 every two years--including spending 22 hours of continuing education--in order to recertify nationally...
...we only earn somewhere between a few pennies below $15 an hour to as much as maybe a dollar or two more than $15 an hour.
So when MacDonalds, WalMart and other unskilled, retail, no-schooling-or-certification-necessary workers start getting $15 an hour, what does that make us, chopped liver?
It's actually amusing! We've spent and continue to spend good money, we've sought, achieved and continue to improve upon good, science-and-math-focused training, and we will make the same as a McDonalds worker?
Sorry, but I don't think it's going to happen.
It's ironic that I have had at least one co-worker who supports Bernie. I don't believe they've considered how upset they will be to be paid the same exact wage as a McDonald's or Walmart employee. Then again, maybe they instead will bring their work ethic to a WalMart near you and be happy to not be challenged.
And neither are all our employers going to raise the hundreds of thousands of our wages to reflect the proportional jump that would equate to $23 to $26 an hour.
Because if they did, that money will have to come from somewhere, and it will come from higher medical visit/procedure/hospital costs, higher drug co-pays, and/or longer waits for all your medical attention due to these employers also cutting staff to afford the jack-up in wages.
Because that bump-up in our jobs' earnings alone adds at least $3.5 million in costs yearly to be passed on to you, the Bernie Sanders supporters, and the Hillary supporters, and to all of us.
Not to mention the new "FIVE DOLLAR MENU" and the "Forget Your Price Rollbacks" Policy.
posted by Annie at 8:09 PM
