Common Sense.  This is an Oxymoron.  Like “Government Intelligence” or “Honest Politician”, where one word cancels out the other.  It seems legitimate.  I mean, it is common sense not to pour hot coffee on yourself,  juggle sharp objects, or play in traffic.  Right, we all know not to do these things, hence the term Common Sense.  But is it really that common?  Watch some videos on YouTube…People are FUCKING STUPID!

One of my favorite movies of all time is “Idiocracy”.  This is a funny movie, Stupid, but funny.  For those of you that have not seen this wonderful piece of artwork, I will break down the plot for you.  The main character Joe is just your “Average Joe” American in the US Army.  Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but like most underachievers in today’s society, he is of average intelligence.  Joe is selected for a special experiment for the Army’s TOP SECRET hibernation program.  Of course things go wrong and Joe is forgotten about and wakes up 500 years in the future.  Joe awakens and finds himself to be the smartest man in the world.  This all happens due to an epic dumbing down of people over the centuries.  Rent it, I dare you not to laugh, and then think about it for a minute…its happening!!

Now, I have only been on this earth for a short 38 years, and in my rather short lifetime I have already seen what I would consider a dumbing down of our human race.  With the advancements in technology, and watching a new generation of kids graduating high school, it has become obvious to me that kids these days are getting dumber and dumber.  Colleges have become liberal breeding grounds.  People don’t go to school to learn trades anymore.  Less and less people know how to change the oil in their car, or change a tire…hell, can you even buy a car with a manual transmission anymore?

The most recent issue that exemplifies the existence of dumbing down and lack of common sense is the demand for an increase to the minimum wage.  A Federal minimum wage of $7.25 is not enough to raise a family on in most areas of the United States, I get that.  Name a job that requires intelligence and skill that pays minimum wage?  That’s right folks, just like Santa Clause and the Ester Bunny they don’t exist.  Jobs that pay minimum wage are simple, mindless, manual labor type jobs that require little to no supervision, training or intelligence. They are not intended to become career jobs, they are entry level jobs that give people a chance to learn work ethic. A single person must earn $11,170, or $5.21 an hour to be above the poverty level. For that person, the minimum wage is adequate.

So the ignorant argument goes…But what about the people that don’t know a trade or have an education, how are they supposed to survive on minimum wage?  Here is my answer dummy…LEARN!!!  So in case you don’t know, there is a thing in almost every little town or city that I have ever been to, it is called a public library.  In this magical place they have things called books, computers, magazines.  All of these items are useful in the thing I like to call LEARNING.  Now I am assuming that most people at least made it through the 6th grade and have at least a rudimentary understanding of how to read and write. Well, that is really all you need to learn.  And guess what…the Library is FREE!!!!!

Common Sense says if you raise the cost of labor, in order to make a profit you must raise the cost of services.  Here is a simple example…Bob owns a pizza restaurant and has 10 employees.  each employee works 2080 hours per year at $7.25 per hour.  Bob’s payroll costs him $150,800 per year.  Now bob also pays himself an average wage of (for easy math purposes) $49,200 per year, for a total payroll of $200,000 per year.  Bob also has to pay for the lease on the building at $24,000 per year, insurance at $16,000 per year, maintenance expenses and repairs at $10,000 per year.  Bob sells about 50 pizzas per day, that equals 18250 pizzas per year.  Each Pizza cost Bob $6 worth of ingredients, so to make enough money to cover all of his costs he has to charge $20 per pizza…seem about right…follow me so far.  Now if Bob is forced to pay his employees $2 more per hour…this is what it looks like 10 employees at 2080 hours per year @ $9.25 per hour his cost of labor goes up to $192,400…That is an increase of $41,600.  In order for Bob to cover those costs, he either must take it from his paycheck…which is almost all of his paycheck or increase the cost of his pizzas by $2 each.  Now each of bobs Pizzas cost $22…this does not even factor in the cost of ingredients that are going to increase due to the cost of labor increase at Bob’s suppliers.  In a good case scenario, Bob will have to raise the cost of his pizzas to $24 or more to break even and still make his same wage.  This also leaves no money to put back into his business…it is a basic principal to show a point!  You get it, I hope!

It really is simple math people…if you raise the minimum wage, the people that work at minimum wage jobs will make more money, but the price of good and services at places they frequent, like restaurants and grocery stores and movie theaters will also be increasing, costing these minimum wage workers more money.  The people that do not work in minimum wage jobs do not get the same pay increase, therefore they have to pay more for goods and services and will find themselves not eating out, going to the movies and buying less at the stores because they have to cut their budget.  Common Sense tells me that if you increase the minimum wage, the impact to the economy will be huge…middle class workers will spend less money on the things they enjoy and the economy will suffer!!  Business will start to lose money and small business will start to close and more minimum wage workers will be out of jobs.  The trickle down effect does not work, so why would the trickle up effect work…the middle class will suffer the poor will get poorer and the rich will stay rich.  Minimum wage is a FUCKING JOKE!!

In closing, my words of advice…Get the FUCK off your ASS and go learn a trade, read some books, educate yourself, earn a LIVING and leave the minimum wage jobs alone.  In fact if you want to fix it…remove the minimum wage altogether!! let the employers decide what they are willing and able to pay.  If they don’t pay enough, don’t work for them and they will go out of business.  If you don’t like your minimum wage job…go get yourself some “Common Sense”, educate yourself and get a job that pays well.  Stop spitting out kids you cant afford to support.  But welfare is a whole new topic to be covered in another posting.

Until next time!!

Dick