September 14, 2007
FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - What was I thinking?: What is your most regretted impulse purchase of all time?
Q2 - Staying ahead of the curve: DNA mapping has advanced to the point where it now offers strong clues as to the medical conditions you may develop later in life. Given your current age, would you want to know what the DNA map has in store for you? If you have young children, would you want to know what a DNA test reveals about their future health?
Q3 - Pricing: As a consumer, which item that you purchase and use on a regular basis--aside from gasoline--do you find to be the most ridiculously overpriced?
Q4 - Hourly wages: On this day in 1966, the U.S. federal government raised the minimum wage to $1.40 an hour. Today, the federal minimum wage is $5,85 an hour, with the state of Washington registering the highest minimum wage rate for any of the 50 states ($7.93 an hour). Do you think the current federal minimum wage is too low, just right, or too high? If you think it is too low or high, how much do you think it should it be?
Posted by Mikal at September 14, 2007 12:24 AM
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1. A pair of "stonewash" jeans I coveted, but immediately regretted when I brought them home. Wore them just once.
2. Yes I would, but depends on the cost. If that is too high, I would prefer t save the money for treatment rather than prevention. In any case if the disease or condition is genetic, there is very little prevention possible, as my rapidly balding head will testify.
3. Bottled water
4. Washington should be used as the standard for all states.
1. What was I thinking?: Hmm... Well, it wasn't really an impulse buy, because I had been wanting one for about a year; but my portable GPS unit. It cost about $500, and I've used it a whopping 3 times since March. Although, it did save me from getting lost in Vegas... only to come back and get me lost in the mountains.
2. Staying ahead: I would absolutely want to know about myself. If I'm gonna die by the time I'm 40, then I can forget about investing in my retirement plan. As for my kids... yeah, I think I'd rather know.
3. Pricing: Tough one. Bottled water is a good one. Text messaging is another. I try to avoid it, but I have friends who don't seem to be able to communicate any other way. They get mad at me me if they text me and I respond by calling them.
4. Hourly wages: Okay. I supported a family of 5 on $7-$8/hr from 2002-2004. That's not a joke. I have the tax records to prove it (and no, we did not live at home or with anybody else)! So last thing I want to hear is a whining 16 year old telling me he's not making enough money to pay for the $5,000 in "upgrades" to his nasty rice burning POS, and that he deserves more for flipping burgers or for ignoring me at the local retail store. Skills = demand = higher wages.
Stay in school, get educated, get a real job that pays... or join the military. Your drill instructor will treat you at least as well as your mama did. Not to mention the free meals, medical, and dental that come with.
There are special circumstances as there are with everything, but there are social programs for those.
1. WHAT WAS I THINKING?: I can't think of anything specific that I regret buying. I'm generally happy with my purchases. This summer I bought a set of Golf Clubs for $600 and have used them once, and those were the cheaper ones. (Oh, and I regret ever buying that drink for Jake's mom, now she won't leave me alone:)
2. STAYING AHEAD OF THE CURVE: I understand that a lot of people wouldn't want to know but I would for sure. I would want to know for my self and for my children so we could do everything we could to fight it.
3. PRICING: As explained above, I haven't hit the golf course too much this year but I think playing a round of golf is CRAZY expensive. The movies have also gotten very expensive as well.
4. HOURLY WAGE: I personally think that $5.85 is about right.
1. A pair of shoes that I thought looked good in the store and seemed to fit fine, but when I got them home I never even wore them once.
2. No, I don't want to know.
3. Ice cream. Why does it cost $3 for a cone at Ben & Jerry's?
4. The federal minimum wage is way too low. How can anyone be expected to live on that? Even if it's just paying a kid who works part-time after school, it's not enough. It needs to be raised to a livable wage.
My responses are posted!
http://www.jhsiess.com
1 What was I thinking? - In high school I bought a camcorder. Why the heck did I need a camcorder in high school? I am still tryin to find an answer to that question.
2 Ahead of the Curve - Why know just so you can stress over it for the rest of your life. Ignorance is bliss!
3 Pricing - Milk! Since when does milk cost $4 a gallon!
4 Wages - You know, I have really fallen behind with the whole minimum wage thing. But I do remember when I was 16 working at the grocery store and the govt. raised minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.65 I think. That was a good day.
Q1 - What was I thinking?: Generally speaking, my most regrettable impulse decisions revolve around clothes. I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have purchased an article of clothing that I only wore once. My most regrettable impulse decisionÖ I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Q2 - Staying ahead of the curve: For myself, at my advanced age (I'll be 42 next week), I would like to know what's ahead and what I could do to extend my life. If I had children, I don't think soÖ it would just make me worry even more (which would cause my life to be shorter). "Damn that DNA mapping!"
Q3 - Pricing: Cable television channels, antiperspirant, and replacement shaving razors (oh, and chateau brione, too).
Q4 - Hourly wages: The hourly wage in this country is a crying shame. I don't buy for a second that by raising it to a livable rate (of say at least $9.00 an hour) we'd hurt small businesses, lowers competitiveness, reduces profit margins, or that it even decreases economic growth by encouraging labor-intensive employment. All hogwash. Minimum wage workers drive this economy of ours in so many ways, and there needs to be an increase in the average living standard for these folks. Tyler, even Jake's Mom would agree on this one.
1. I bought a timeshare once at one of those high-pressure seminars. By the time I got home, I already regretted the decision. I really couldnít afford it. I went home and scoured through the contract I signed and found out I had three days to back out, so I went back the next day and canceled it. I guess it wasnít really that big a deal, but I havenít regretted too many purchases.
2. Yes. There are certain conditions that you can bring on earlier or stave off by your lifestyle habits. Diabetes is a good example. However, I wouldnít want to the info to be public knowledge--too much of a Gattica risk if that happens.
3. Printer toner. I know itís part of the business model, but I always think itís weird that refilling the four toner cartridges for my color laser printer costs almost as much as the printer did in the first place. Same thing goes for replacement blades for my Mach3 razor. Those things are way too much, but I really do like them better than the cheap disposables. I promised myself that Iím never going to try any of the new shaving innovations like four blades or battery-powered, vibrating blades. Iím scared I might like them better and be stuck paying even more.
4. Honestly, I donít think the government should set minimum wage at all. I believe the market should set the rate. You already see this in a lot of places. Many fast-food places canít get by paying minimum wage anymore cause no one will work for it.
q1: I bought a car once. While driving it home from the previous owners house it broke down. I had to get it towed home and fixed. I was really upset for a few days, but the problem ended up being pretty minor, just bad timing.
q2: Yeah this sounds like Gattaca to me too. So #1 privacy would be important. #2 my desire to know would depend on the accuracy of the mapping. If it was 95% accurate or higher, I'd probably prefer not to know. If my liver is going to fail when I'm 45, I don't see any benefit in worry about that for the next 20 years. If, however, the accuracy is much lower and just shows me things I would have a risk of having, and if I changed my lifestyle I could prevent, then I'm all in.
q3: milk, cable tv, cell phone bills
q4: I think that it is too low. Probably around $7.50 is a better minium. However, I agree that the market often corrects the low minimum wage on its own. I've seen "We're Hiring" signs at Wendy's offer much higher wages than the minimum wage. Therefore I don't feel it is extremely urgent. I might also support a 2-tiered minimum wage. One for teens working while living at home, and one for adults supporting themselves.
Posty McPost. Click the namelink.
1. I'm a total penny pincher, so pretty much everything I buy really makes me mad that I had to waste my money, meaning that I can't even recall the last thing I bought on impulse.
2. I can't say that I would really do much differently even if I did know. I mean the odds of most diseases are higher if you have a family history of them, and my family history hasn't really dictated how I've chosen to handle my health.
3. Everything.
4. I like Ryan's suggestion of a tiered system, I know that I'm well above minimum wage, but I always feel like I barely make enough to get by.
1 - A couple years ago I purchased a set of turntables. Loved them for about 3 months until I lost interest. Thank God for consignment stores!
2 - Yes. It would allow for me or my future bastard children to modify behavior/habits to help minimize any negative health effects.
3 - Bottled water. Who ever made the decision to market a commodity like water should be given a swift kick to the grill.
4 - Way too low! Minimum wage should be pegged against the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to ensure its growth falls in line with inflation.
Q1 - What was I thinking?: That's a tough question, so many to think through. ;) One that comes to mind is last Christmas I bought an xBox 360. We've turned it on once since then.
Q2 - Staying ahead of the curve: Sure, tell me how bad it's going to be. I can handle it, not for my kids though. Might make me too sad.
Q3 - Pricing: MEDICAL INSURANCE times 100!!!! I don't pay, but my company (that I own) does, and heath care in America is jacked up more than Ricky Bobby's son in Talladega Nights when he said to his grandpa Chip , "Don't mess with me, I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew!"
Q4 - Hourly wages: Not sure on this one. I'm not an economist, just a lowly entrepreneur, but the way I look at it the market should set rates. Why have a minimum wage even? If someone would take a job today making $1.50 an hour, why not let them work and the business pay them? Seems we're getting in between arms length transactions. Having said all that, if we really need a minimum wage, I think it's fine where it is. If you raise it, you raise costs to everyone, and then you need to raise the minimum wage? Isn't that just a vicious circle? And in the end, the world is GLOBAL everyone. If McDonald's could make hamburgers in India, no one would be complaining about only making $7.93 in Washington flipping burgers, because they'd be making exactly 0. How's that for a rambling, incoherent, uneducated discourse on minimum wage theory.
Good questions this week, mine are up!
Q1 - Which one? Can I choose the membership for the match-making service in which the only person I met was my soon-to-be-ex-husband? LOL Seriously, I would have to say the camcorder said ex had to have but never used. Or wait, the PSP, or even the Playstation. Wait I see a theme here...
Q2 - No, because then you live in constant fear that you MAY develop a disease which you may not. Same with your kids. I prefer to try my best to live a healthy lifestyle and just make sure to utilize preventative medicine. :) I am possibly at greater risk for lung cancer because both of my parents had the same type, but they don't have a test for certain. So knowing this info there is little more I can do than avoid cigarettes and once I hit 40 start having annual chest cat scans.
Q3 - Probably bottled water.
Q4 - The minimum wage here in New Jersey is $7.15. Even up here, people manage to get by on it. It is valid that small businesses would suffer if it were too high. What is a happy medium? I don't know.
Q3 -
My answers are posted over at my place.
Q1 - What was I thinking?: Ordering fish at a Mexican restaurant that was nowhere near a coastline. Hey, I was fish hungry.
Q2 - Staying ahead of the curve: I would rather live in ignorance. I think the mere hint that someone may be more prone to developing a condition would lower the quality of life and perhaps even contribute to the onset of that condition.
Q3 - Pricing: Healthcare insurance. I think we need to go back to paying cash directly to doctors. Doctors would be required to do a certain amount of pro bono work. Cut out the middleman.
Q4 - Hourly wages: How any individual can survive on less than ten bucks an hour is a mystery to me. However, I think market forces, not the government, should be setting the minimum wage.
Okay...it's not Friday, but I lost Friday...anyway...
1. Due to a complex mutual approval process instituted in our household, we don't make impusle purchases...well sometimes. I bought a glass of whiskey in Scotland for 75-quid once. It was good, but I wished I'd still had the 75 pounds in the morning and simply had a nice 15-year old Talisker or Laugavulin.
2. Give it to me, Baby (uh-huh, uh-huh). Although it would be hard, I would hope it would not change the way I live my life. Scarce medical resources would become a whole new ballgame though...READ: "The Painful Prescription: Rationing Hospital Care" by Aaron & Schwartz.
3. First a digression...I don't think fuel in this country (even now) is "ridiculously overpriced." To the contrary, it has been ridiculously underpriced for far too long. Goto Europe. See how much they always pay. Then look at how people approach their vehicles, public transportation, walking, biking, et al. Catch my drift? On to the question though, we pay too much for venison in this country. It's ridiculously overpriced, yet deer are ridiculously over populated. And they still won't let us eat our own. READ: "Eat Like a Wild Man"
4. It's too low when a family cannot have one (much the less two) parent working a 40-hour week at minimum wage and afford the basics to support their family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKAL!!!!!!
SEPTEMBER 19TH - YEA!!!!
I LOVE YOU!!
KATE
Hey was it your birthday? Then yeah, Happy Birthday Mikal!!!
Well, since there's no new FFF, I thought I'd pop in and comment on the comments.
Tiered waging system: not fair. And if you think the whining of 16 year olds is bad now, just wait until they get paid $5/hr to do the exact same job someone getting $10/hr is doing, just because the other person is older/has kids/whatever.
Tyson's future bastard children: Holy crap, I laughed until I puked!!!
Incoherent discourse on minimum wage theory: I agree... I think. As a potential future employer, I don't like the idea of paying somebody more than the job warrants.
Healthcare: Cutting out the middle man. Hmm... yeah, not a bad idea. What's up with us paying two organizations whose goals are to suck us out of every last penny? Health coverage costs too much... yes! Were it not for my employer's contribution, there's no way I could afford it, and I think my employer is getting royally screwed. I have a friend that actually paid the full amount for awhile. He says to me, "It's something that you have to have!" To which I responded, "But when you have to make the choice between putting a roof over your family's head or having health insurance (that I almost never use), it's not so necessary all of a sudden.
Everything else: just pretend I ranted for a really long time about it.
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