I Want $15/hr For Flipping Burgers!

It's even worse for the disabled. Minimum wage does not apply to them on any level. That's how Goodwill gets away with paying workers 10 cents per hour while the regional CEOs are all making hundreds of thousands per year.

 

I can't speak to Goodwill and their compensation schemes, however, I had an aunt who was born with hydrocephaly and lived her whole life (into her 60's, actually) with a toddler's level of intelligence. As her body aged into adulthood, the family got her involved with a place called Sunshine Village which provided activities and work for folks like her. As I recall, they paid her something like $0.10 per piece for her work assembling simple items, had a small van pick her up and drop her off every day from the house, and also provided other, more recreational activities during non-work hours. I recall a number of family members commenting that her employers were likely losing money on the deal because my aunt and her co-workers would often fall asleep at her bench, turn in only few completed items, etc. However, it was a godsend for my aunt and for the family. Mostly, she had a "job" to go to and something structured to look forward to 5 days per week. She had co-worker friends that she could gossip with, etc. In fact, when my aunt did pass away, in lieu of flowers, etc., the family requested that people make donations to the Village in her memory because it was such a source of pleasure and meaning to her.

 

anyway, it's how it works. I don't like it as well, since I would really love to see anyone happy and rich, but it's how is made our world and there are countries where the workers situation is very very bad, or nearly impossible to survive.

 

You know, it's funny. Some of the wealthiest people I know are unhappy, overall. Others, of modest income, are super happy people. I have not always found a correlation between wealth and happiness. I admire the happy people because their lives are good, pretty much no matter what happens.

Being "rich" is relative term. If you make a one hundred thousand dollars per year you might feel rich until you move into a neighborhood made up of millionaires. There are always people wealthier than you, unless you are Bill Gates, Warren Buffett or one of their peers. On the other hand, a $15/hour veggie burger flipper might seem like a millionaire to someone who survives via subsistence farming in an impoverished geography. So being "rich" can be a hard target to quantify and, therefore, recognize when you have arrived at that station.

That said, I would really like to try being rich and happy for a little while to see if I could make it work.