• ToastedRavioli@midwest.social
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    1 day ago

    When I first started working at minimum wage, you could buy 3 packs of decent cigarettes for an hour’s worth of labor

    For the last few years the places I have lived, one pack of cigarettes is about $17. So over 2 hours worth of work at the minimum wage just for one pack of smokes

    Now, this may sound like an old fogey story, but perhaps the point is that I entered the workforce when minimum wage was like $7.35 an hour less than 15 years ago, and I already have old fogey economic stories

    Fast food is a similar story. It’s something bad for our health but was more excusable back when it was cheaper relative to wages. The fuck would I work myself to death just to be able to smoke a dart or eat a garbage hamburger?