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As if this weekend's US box office "winner" is a real work of art?

When 90% of everything is crap, so why bother banning stuff?

I wasn't bothered in the least at seeing Janet's nipple. Tho the ornament thing was a bit OTT.

Aside from Chef!, which was only on for a few seasons, I'm not at all sure I'd have been willing to pony up $100+ each year.

JohnHwangDD wrote:And WTH is a "living wage"?

There are government methods of calculating living wage. They involve a defined basket of goods and services required to sustain a lifestyle, such as rent and transportation. The prices are found by research and the necessary wage can be calculated based on the defined working hours. For example, the Tokyo government calculated a living wage based on 50 hours per week, as I read recently. The legal minimum wage is supposedly based on the living wage calculation but often lags.

More about minimum wage law at the ever-reliable Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_law

What ? That god awful Lenny Henry thing ? Really ?

Sorry Grandad, I didn't realise you were that old or out of touch.

Someone actually watched that show ? Wow. Live and learn I guess.

Top of my Head : Blackadder, HIGNFY, Mock the Week, OI-- hell anything with Fry in, Fawlty Towers, the list of A++ BBC progs. goes on and on. Sure they've made crap- My Family or ...well, Lenny Henry's "career", but they're generally more hit than miss.

Add in the sport, news and the radio stuff and I think it's a sweet deal.

Hell I'd say it's worth it just to be able and sit and watch a film uninterrupted without ad every 10 minutes is worth it.

I no interest in Cars/similar, but I'm happy enough to watch Top Gear as it is well done.

@KK: In other words, it's a meaningless number that presumes that even unskilled labor should be amply rewarded.

I subscribe to the more basic notion that a earned wage is whatever someone is actually willing to pay you to do something. If you want more pay, then you should work smarter / harder / better.

@red: you're just proving my point even further. And for old stuff, you're actually breaking out Fawlty Towers? Cripes, might as well point to AYBS or perhaps Benny Hill.

Also, those of us who want to watch films uninterrupted, we have the magical devices called DVD players.

Don't diss the pure awesome of Benny Hill

Mr. Pink: She was okay. She wasn't anything special.
Mr. Blue: What's special? Take you in the back and ?
Nice Guy Eddie: I'd go over twelve percent for that.

JohnHwangDD wrote:@KK: In other words, it's a meaningless number that presumes that even unskilled labor should be amply rewarded.

I subscribe to the more basic notion that a earned wage is whatever someone is actually willing to pay you to do something. If you want more pay, then you should work smarter / harder / better.

ooooooOK ... where to start ... minimum wage is there so people can live, that's eat, food, travel, clothes, somewhere to sleep and utilities ... just because you think work is unskilled doesn't make doing it any easier doing it

more basic notion, whatever someone is actually willing to pay?... We had a bad week you're not getting paid ... we've had a great week, no you're not getting extra. Both in the UK and US its a regular practice take Tips as part of the Minimum Wage ... here we looking into it ... not all options are great but we're looking at it.

smarter / harder / better ... employers already do this they'll get people in cheaply (training staff 3 week contract) and those that are smarter / harder / better, get to stay ... you need to be good already or you don't get a job ...

... now if we were talking about the benefits scheme here in UK ... well it laugh able ... its often better for some one to stay on it than take up a job ... it need to be here but it need hell of lot of work doing to it

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

BBC ... I've no idea if you can view this out side of the UK but i think you should try the BBCI Player http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ watch Top Gear, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mock the Week, Doctor Who, Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe...ect

Im from the UK to and im totally in favour of the TV license- and I dont even have a working tv!

its for the household tho and well there is a reason the BBC is generally regarded as being top notch- seems to me that the people who dont like the license are *gasp* the other channels

as for tips I rarely do it, seems odd to me that you would tip someone for doing their job (I work retail and would be gobsmacked if someone tipped me!)

as for the minimum wage its a fantastic mechanism for making sure people get paid enough to get by, as Tri says tho we need to redo our benefits system to make it more worthwhile to be in work

First off, the notion of minimum / living wage presumes that all people have the same minimum needs. That is clearly false, as everybody is different, tied to different individual circumstances.

Secondly, not all work is worthy of a "living wage". As before, wages should be tied to the value that they create. If one group needs to be paid in excess of the value they add, then another group will usually be shorted to make up the difference.

Thirdly, minimum wage rules typically only affect a small proportion of unskilled labor. Degreed / trained individuals are effectively immune. That's why finishing HS/ college actually means something.

Finally, like any other labor price-fixing scheme, all this really does is to increase unemployment.

As an employer, suppose I have a labor budget of $30/hr. I might prefer to have the flexibility of 3 people at $10/hr. But if "living wage" sets at $15/hr, I can't afford 3 people. So someone gets fired, and the remaining 2 will have to work 50% harder. If they can't do that, then they will be fired and replaced by people who have skills / ability to perform at the $15/hr level. But the idea that an employer might forego corporate / shareholder profit or managerial / executive pay in order to pay the unskilled labor more? Hahahaha!

JohnHwangDD wrote:@red: you're just proving my point even further. And for old stuff, you're actually breaking out Fawlty Towers?

I used Fawlty Towers for a few reasons.

1. You seem quite ignorant over current British TV, and I knew you'd have heard of it.
2. Cleese is on record as stating that the show was only made through/by the BBC. Something we hear a lot with regards to the way it is set up.
3. Not long after it was a massive succes Cleese was flown over to America to try and set up an Americanised verison of the show. He had a very nice few days whilst the septics thrashed out what they wanted, which culminated in them informing him they loved the show and the concept and were going to run with it. They had however written out the character of Basil.

Seems your problem is more with your unrealistic labour budget than any problems with the minimum wage.


EDIT : reading this back it might come across as a tad more agressive than I intended. It's not supposed to be, honest ! We're just talking about the idiot box after all.

wow john ... that's solution to the worlds problems ... we will make you our king!

... just out of interest you're not middle management are you?

@red: I don't have any particular problem with Fawlty Towers per se, but then I wouldn't all it "high art", either. Indeed, I can't think much of anything on TV, past or present, that I would consider to be "high art". That isn't to say that I don't enjoy a funny, well-written show - I do. Currenly, I like "the Office" (not a bad import) and "How I Met Your Mother" (nice homegrown successor to Friends). But I don't think of TV shows as real "art", more as "entertainment". Now, if you lot consider it "high art", more power to you...


WRT labor budgets, just wait until you actually have to do one tied to actual revenue in a down economy...
____

@Tri: I'm "management". We have a certain amount of revenue that needs to go into various things, including labor. If we don't keep labor cost under control, we go bankrupt, in which case *everybody* loses.

ah though as much ... explains your stong view point ... well every one F'ed and it all because of people skimming off money

I don't have a problem paying an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, though I also expect an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Also, none of our people are paid so little as to fall under minimum wage laws.

It's very tough out there right now, and cost pressures are immense. Customers are cutting back (thanks for the Christmas news!), and we are fighting hard just to keep our existing guys employed. Not fun. :(


Sure, living wage means that some people get paid more - good for them. But that just means that some other people don't get paid at all. Which means that they go on unemployment / welfare. Which means more tax and less competitiveness.

lucky sods ^_^ i've had many jobs with min. wage ... if it wasn't for the fact i was able to work 14h shifts i'd never had saved enough for uni ...

@Tri - I've worked for tips and minimum wage, and it sucked. Let's just say it gives one perspective on what a good job really is...

yep 6 months i spent at the cinema were probably the most fun ... only down side was i saw the end to every single fim before i could see them ... up side i did get to see every film out in that 6 months ... longest shift 8.30am start -12.30am finish , had to do that for 3 days because people were sick

JohnHwangDD wrote:@KK: In other words, it's a meaningless number that presumes that even unskilled labor should be amply rewarded.

I subscribe to the more basic notion that a earned wage is whatever someone is actually willing to pay you to do something. If you want more pay, then you should work smarter / harder / better.

Not at all. It's the minimum money required not to starve to death (in extremis) in a modern commercial society.

It's perfectly apparent that many people in countries such as the UK, Japan and the US are paid less than this. Presumably they make up the difference by a combination of charity, family help, social security and low level crime.

Except that people don't actually live or work that way.

I guarantee that the living wage number isn't a starvation number in any way.

I also guarantee that people who make minimum wage aren't depending on that single wage as their sole source of income.

Ergo, if the number is methodologically false, and the usage is not relevant, then it is meaningless.

this and people think there is no difference between Taiwan and China...

*goes emo and sit at the corner

My sister is a waitress at a local Macaroni Grill.

$2.00 American an hour. Supposedly tips are to make up for it.


No.

Tips reported, or Tips taken home?

Im not sure actually. I know some states actually tax tips as well, but I don't know whether Louisiana does or not. We probably do, the reprehensibly corrupt incompetents that we are.

At a minimum, all Tips must be reported as income for tax purposes, and the Feds will tax them. Failure to report tip income, withhold taxes against tips, and/or pay Federal taxes on tip income is tax evasion...

Whether a particular State chooses to tax them is a separate question.

Whether a particular person chooses to comply with the law is up to them. Though, every once in a while, the Feds do audit tips to drive reporting compliance up...

Given that everybody, state and Federal, is running big deficits and likely to go after every penny that they can, I would particularly advise against underreporting. Nobody wants to win the lottery and be selected as the "lucky person" to be audited...