Current Events > (R-SD) Sen Thume opposes $15/hour because he made $6/hour as a kid

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His tweet:

https://mobile.twitter.com/SenJohnThune/status/1364715054743105536

https://www.newsweek.com/sen-john-thune-opposing-15-min-wage-says-he-earned-6-kidthats-24-inflation-1571915

In a tweet voicing his opposition to raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, Republican South Dakota Senator John Thune said he made $6 an hour working at a restaurant as a "kid." Adjusted for modern inflation, that would be $24 an hour today.

Congressional Republicans have largely opposed the Democratic proposal to raise the minimum wage. They argue a wage hike will harm small businesses who have already been economically harmed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"I started working by bussing tables at the Star Family Restaurant for $1/hour & slowly moved up to cook the big leagues for a kid like me to earn $6/hour," Thune wrote in a Wednesday evening tweet. "Businesses in small towns survive on narrow margins. Mandating a $15 minimum wage would put many of them out of business."

It's unclear which years Thune worked at the restaurant in his hometown of Murdo, South Dakota, where he attended high school.
However, Thune was born in 1961. Assuming he was earning $6 an hour by the time he was 17the last year one is still considered a non-adult under the national age of consent, which is 18the year would have been 1978.

A $6 an hour wage in 1978, adjusted to modern inflation rates, would equal $24.07 an hour in 2021. A person making $24.07 an hour, working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year would earn over $50,000 annually before taxes.

A person working the same hours and earning the Democratic-proposed wage of $15 an hour would earn just over $31,200 a year, before taxes. A person working the same hours and earning the current national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour would earn just over $15,080 a year, before taxes. The Department of Health and Human Services lists the poverty line for a single-person household in the contiguous 48 states and District of Columbia is $12,880 per year.

On Monday, Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Utah introduced a $10 national minimum wage plan. It is called the Higher Wages for American Workers Act. The GOP plan would gradually raise the federal minimum wage from its current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour by 2025.
A person making the GOP-proposed wage of $10 an hour, working 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year would earn over $20,800 annually before taxes

The plan was criticized by Democratic legislators and others for being lower than the minimum wage in Cotton's home state$11 an hour.
Romney and Cotton's plan would only raise wages for around 3 percent of American workers, compared to 21.2 percent of workers under the Democratic proposal, according to an analysis published Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute.

You know, fuck our kids and fellow Americans for wanting to have a living wage

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A republican who doesn't understand economics? Shocking.

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dolomedes posted...

cool, let's start paying him $6/hr again

"b-b-but i'm worth more than that now! I w-w-worked hard to weasel my way into politics! These LAZY DEMOCRAT KIDS just want MORE MONEY for DOING NOTHING EXTRA"

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Why do people vote for these assholes?

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LightHawKnight posted...

Why do people vote for these assholes?

because they barely make jack shit and will vote for anyone that promises to lower taxes

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Republicans always want every generation to live like they did with with no societal progress made

What an idiotic tone deaf answer

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raising the mininum wage slowly is a better idea than gunning it to 120 MPH to hit it at 15$.

over 5 years.
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That is as dumb as believing the earth is flat. What a worthless empty-skulled loser. Needs to be cancelled.
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He's not wrong but he's not right

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Pretty mind blowing honestly.
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The most hilarious thing about this is that using inflation alone, he actually made more than $15 per hour

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Yeah, back when rent was $500/year and a new house cost $80k.

Raising the minimum wage for a COVID relief bill doesnt make sense. It should be separated.

Bleuets posted...

Raising the minimum wage for a COVID relief bill doesnt make sense. It should be separated.

Its either now or use it as a talking point in 2022

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Back when a new car cost you $2,000 and you could pay it off with 400 hours of work.

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Government not steadily increasing minimum wage over the years was the issue.

now trying to fast track a 6 dollar bump over night isnt the right thing either.

if we had a steady and fair increase every year; you wouldnt be in this mess. Companies and businesses could adapt if they had to give their employees a .25-.50 cent raise every year.


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chrono625 posted...

Government not steadily increasing minimum wage over the years was the issue.

now trying to fast track a 6 dollar bump over night isnt the right thing either.

if we had a steady and fair increase every year; you wouldnt be in this mess. Companies and businesses could adapt if they had to give their employees a .25-.50 cent raise every year.

Smart business? IN MY AMERICA?

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chrono625 posted...

Government not steadily increasing minimum wage over the years was the issue.

now trying to fast track a 6 dollar bump over night isnt the right thing either.

if we had a steady and fair increase every year; you wouldnt be in this mess. Companies and businesses could adapt if they had to give their employees a .25-.50 cent raise every year.

All the bills being suggested have a phase in over several years already. It's also sad how even expecting companies to pay a minimum wage equivalent to the minimum in the past is now an unreasonable ask.

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Well when he opens a restaurant chain that sells burgers for 25 a pop I'll give his position some consideration.

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Why do CEOs need so much money?

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A lot of boomers think the world is exactly the same as when they were young. Although in this case it's just a Republican typically being dishonest.

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This rich entitled fuck made $6 an hour in the 70s? I barely made $6 an hour in the late 90s!

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Instead of raising the minimum wage, why cant we lower the cost of living?

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https://twitter.com/maxkennerly/status/1364802119564464130?s=21

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This comment is so stupid it almost sounds like he actually wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 and he made this comment so it would get into the news and more people would support increasing the minimum wage.

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Why dont we put some structure in place to make sure that workers actually keep it? Any time my pay goes up, rent increases or medical insurance increases. We cant move forward until we put a stop to the rising cost of living. How do you save money when youre working two jobs to keep yourself from living on the streets?

Force workplaces to stop punishing the public for voting for an increased wage. Places are putting skeleton crews on the floor in stores and restaurants because they cant pay one more worker $10/hour? Look at the corporate profits. They want people to say, I supported the minimum wage increase and now it takes twenty minutes to get a burger from McDonalds!

Man this guy is just getting dragged all over the place you love to see it.

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Flockaveli posted...

Instead of raising the minimum wage, why cant we lower the cost of living?

How would you do that exactly?

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Zikten posted...

Republicans always want every generation to live like they did with with no societal progress made

In this case, he wants us to live a lot worse off than he did.

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BeyondWalls posted...

How would you do that exactly?

I would try raising the minimum wage.

kingdrake2 posted...

raising the mininum wage slowly is a better idea than gunning it to 120 MPH to hit it at 15$.

over 5 years.

Dude, we've been having minimum wage talks for more than a decade.

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BeyondWalls posted...

How would you do that exactly?

I didnt plan that far ahead.

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BeyondWalls posted...

How would you do that exactly?

Before anyone says rent control, there is so much excess land in the US that is going unused.

Basically what to do is to massively increase supply so the price of housing decreases.

Building a ton of new housing would be ok, but the best thing to do would be to create new large cities in rural areas.

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Payzmaykr posted...

Why dont we put some structure in place to make sure that workers actually keep it? Any time my pay goes up, rent increases or medical insurance increases.

you mean like universal healthcare

Damn_Underscore posted...

Before anyone says rent control, there is so much excess land in the US that is going unused.

Basically what to do is to massively increase supply so the price of housing decreases.

Building a ton of new housing would be ok, but the best thing to do would be to create new large cities in rural areas.

how many jobs will there be in those rural areas

be aware that if you describe building the houses as the jobs, you're describing a pyramid scheme

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Vampire_Wreath posted...

Dude, we've been having minimum wage talks for more than a decade.

Seriously. Rent prices skyrocket at 120 MPH, so why shouldnt our paychecks? At a certain point, I really dont care about the what ifs because we are a generation who is forced into poverty. Oh, and it doesnt help that every facet of the workforce is trying to automate itself (getting rid of jobs).

#41
undefined posted...

Why dont we put some structure in place to make sure that workers actually keep it? Any time my pay goes up, rent increases or medical insurance increases.

you mean like universal healthcare

We need universal health care. The second that hospitals started regularly charging people tens of thousands of dollars for routine checks, we should have taken away their ability to charge us. If our government can spend more than a trillion dollars on a failed F35 jet, then I think we can come up with the money.

Its time to slash the fuck out of military spending because its causing us to move backwards as a country. These people act like we have Russia trying to invade us from one side and China from the other. Im so tired of this boomer bullshit about kissing the militarys ass. When has the military ever said, you know, we really dont need this much. Why dont you use some to create some jobs or cover some medical debts?

Sackgurl posted...

how many jobs will there be in those rural areas

be aware that if you describe building the houses as the jobs, you're describing a pyramid scheme

-Build a city
-Incentivize people from all over the country to move there
-A city needs things like hospitals grocery stores, restaurants, infrastructure, etc. and all of those will create jobs
-Eventually non-essential businesses will appear as well and the city will grow economically
-Repeat

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The issue is that minwage jobs don't justify $15/hr.

dolomedes posted...

that would take a lot of money and destroy already-ravaged ecosystems

instead we could invest that money in the existing infrastructures that we've been letting crumble for decades, and preserve what little bits of wilderness we have left

There is PLENTY of land in the US.

If all the infrastructure right now was perfect it would do nothing to fix the problems mentioned in this topic. If there was a really good public transportation system throughout the US it would be nice but many of the issues mentioned in this topic would still remain. An hour-long commute is still an hour-long commute whether its by car or by train.

The real problem is that we have some big cities with suburbs attached to them where many people commute to those cities. Rural areas are generally a lot less expensive than cities or suburbs, it the job opportunities there are far less than in non-rural areas. Suburbs are a weird middle ground where sometimes there are great job opportunities and sometimes there arent.

That is why we need more cities/hub areas until everyone who wants to live a prosperous and affordable life can do so.


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