From Grok:
- The post presents older OECD data showing hours per week a single adult must work at minimum wage (plus benefits) to exceed the relative poverty line of 50% median disposable income, with the US at 61 hours versus Türkiye at 9, UK at 14, and several European nations at 16-28 hours.
- This indicator highlights differences in minimum wage levels, tax systems, and social transfers across countries, where the low US federal minimum wage of $7.25 interacts with a higher national median income to require more hours.
- Replies point out that very few US workers earn only the federal minimum long-term, most entry-level pay exceeds it, and the relative poverty measure does not capture absolute living standards or non-wage support.
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Is the hourly wage the metric upon which we should consider our wealth? The government’s bankruptcy through a crushing national debt and corporate greed have brought our nation’s payroll to this point. I remember being paid $9.50 as a nuclear construction engineer supervising two other engineers in 1984. Working fifty hours a week allowed me an apartment and an old car. I made $28,000 in a year only because of mandatory overtime. My base salary was under $20,000. When I left, my immediate supervisor told me that I was their best engineer out of over thirty even though I one of the lowest paid.
This experience laid the basis for me to save enough money so that I could open my own business which allowed me a middle class lifestyle.
What is a fair wage? What is a fair tax rate? What is a fair price for affordable health care, insurance, property taxes or food? These are not the questions we should be asking. If a man cannot afford a small home and the ability to feed and clothe his family on a 40 hour workweek, the system will collapse.
I doubt we will solve this issue before robotics and AI makes people disposable. Is this the life that the Lord intended for faithful and moral people?
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