What Am I Worth?

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"What Am I Worth" is the title of an old George Jones songs, one of his first hits, and one of my all-time favorite songs of his. I'll post the song at the end so you can at least have some entertainment out of this discussion. The song title, however, is also a valid question. It's something that came to mind after I read a discussion by @maezee about the shrinking size of things at McDonald's and a comment that things will get even smaller if the minimum wage goes to $15 an hour. I currently make $15 an hour. So, if a pimply-faced 16-year-old with no experience and no education (seriously, give someone at Subway a ten, a one, and 56 cents for a $6.56 meal and watch their head explode in utter confusion) thinks they're worth fifteen bucks an hour, what does that put my value, as a college-educated person with 38 years experience in the work force, at? This is one of the many reasons I'm opposed to the ridiculous notion of paying entry-level workers such a high amount of money. Additionally, it is an entry-level salary: stick around, do your job, show up, don't get in trouble, and your minimum wage is going to go up in 90 days. (Of course, that's part of the problem of the "entitlement society:" they don't want to show up and do their jobs. (Another temp and I went to an assignment. As the supervisor was explaining our job the other temp asked when the breaks were, how long the breaks were, when was lunch, how long was lunch, and when did we get off. She didn't come back the next day.) Get an education and experience and you're going to be starting at a higher rate. Raising the minimum wage for unskilled, uneducated people (oh, the "minimum wage" workforce accounts for less than 2% of the U.S. workforce, and it's primarily high school students and retirees who want a lower salary so they don't endanger their Social Security) not only increases the price of everything (yes, that cost will be passed on to you and me) it also automatically devalues the worth of everyone else in the workforce. Rant over. Here's the George Jones song: