wages Archives - Faithful with a Few

According to a recent article by CNBC, various government welfare payments account for more than a third of all salaries and wages across the entire population of the United States! That is an amazing statistic when you stop to think about it what a social welfare program really is.

Welfare Payments Gone Wild

Now, when I speak of welfare payments, I am not just referring to payments made to the poor. Social Security, Medicare, and another popular social welfare program – unemployment – are all included! Here is what the article had to say about the numbers:

Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data.

So 35% of total wages and salaries will be nothing more than government handouts! The fact that this number was only 10% just a mere 40 years ago should alarm many!

What this means is that if you are in a room with 99 other people (say at a supermarket), 35 of them would completely rely on a social welfare program for their wages! There is no way that this nation can continue to function in this state for much longer!

“The U.S. economy has become alarmingly dependent on government stimulus,” said Madeline Schnapp, director of Macroeconomic Research at TrimTabs, in a note to clients.

Instead of being a nation of people who worked as hard as we could in order to support ourselves, and making sacrifices whenever needed, we are now people who depend on the government to support us, without any real effort on our part! I would say that we are not just dependent on government support, but we actually feel entitled to it.

Now, obviously Social Security is different because most of the people who are collecting benefits are retired and are receiving income based on contributions they made while working. The system is set up so that current workers support those who are retired, so this assessment doesn’t really apply to them.

A Social Welfare Program In Trouble

Even though I stated that Social Security should be seen in a different light than the other welfare payments, the thought of it should immediately bring to mind all of the baby boomers that plan to retire within the next decade or so!

Many people are simply not prepared for retirement, which means that they will depend even more heavily on Social Security to support even the most basic needs. Whether you are a baby boomer or not, take a look at the current IRA contribution limits and 401k contribution limits, and prepare yourself for retirement!

One of the proposed ways to fix this problem has been to reduce either Social Security or Medicare…or both! Unfortunately, most people are blindly hoping for another way…

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released last week showed that less than a quarter of Americans supported making cuts to Social Security or Medicare in order to reign in the mounting budget deficit.

Those poll numbers may be skewed by a demographic shift the likes of which the nation has never seen. Only this year has the first round of baby boomers begun collecting Medicare benefits—and here comes 78 million more.

So, we are already at 35% of the population receiving welfare payments, and now we are expecting about 78 million more retired baby boomers!?!? I honestly don’t know if there is anything that can be done to turn this around – unless we make some major changes to how our economy functions!

Most people are aware of the fact that we won’t collect enough in Social Security taxes to cover outgoing benefits in the future (and the current payroll tax holiday sure isn’t helping)! Here is how the article summarizes our current crisis:

Social welfare benefits have increased by $514 billion over the last two years, according to TrimTabs figures, in part because of measures implemented to fight the financial crisis. Government spending normally takes on a larger part of the spending pie during economic calamities but how can the country change this make-up with the root of the crisis (housing) still on shaky ground, benchmark interest rates already cut to zero, and a demographic shift that calls for an increase in subsidies?

That’s the key question! Not only will we have a huge surge in the amount of retirees looking for government benefits, but because of the tremendously weak (and it will weaken more in the future) housing market, high unemployment and underemployment, and increasing public healthcare costs, we will surely face an unprecedented amount of citizens looking for complete government support!

Unfortunately, most politicians are only interested in the short term, so the future looks pretty bleak! What’s even worse is that many of the developed nations are facing the same problem! Here is another quote from the article:

At the very least, we can take solace in the fact that we’re not quite at the state welfare levels of Europe. In the U.K., social welfare benefits make up 44 percent of wages and salaries, according to TrimTabs’ Schnapp.

“No matter how bad the situation is in the US, we stand far better on these issues (debt, demographics, entrepreneurship) than other countries,” said Steve Cortes of Veracruz Research. “On a relative basis, America remains the world leader and, as such, will also remain the world’s reserve currency.”

If we existed in a vacuum, then maybe we could feel good about our nightmare not being as scary as others. However, since many of the world economies are so connected, this means trouble for the entire world population! So while we are focusing only on ourselves – thinking about various credit card benefits, finding a cosigner for our loans, and identity theft – the economy could very well be crumbling before our eyes.

photo by renjith krishnan

Join The Discussion:

Are you shocked that 35% of all wages are based on payments from a social welfare program?
Do you think that there should be a limit to these welfare payments?
Do you find comfort in the fact that other nations are doing worse?
How do you think we can return to being a nation full of people who support themselves?

To Stay up to day with the latest Economic, Tax, and Personal Finance developments, sign up for our RSS Feed, or Email Updates:

Many people are searching for sensible answers when it comes to the subject of tipping etiquette. Since this is a personal finance website, I’m sure you click on this article expecting to see a list of reasons why we should tip; or at the very least, a list of suggested tips by profession. Sorry to disappoint you, but I am just asking a question that I have wondered since I was a kid.

Tipping Etiquette Gone Wild

A Meal to Remember:

During our honeymoon in Mexico a few years ago (wow, it’s been about 5 years – where does the time go?) my wife and I were attacked by a two-man Mariachi band (accordion and bass) at a restaurant. They were going around to the tables singing and playing badly. Eventually, they made their way to our table and began to sing and play badly (did you think they were going to improve by the time they got to us?). photo credit: Foxtongue

We pretty much ignored them and figured that they were the best that the restaurant could afford to hire. Once they were finished, we expected them to move on to the next victim table, but instead the leader stopped and looked at me and said, “WE PLAY FOR TEEPS!” 😯 (that’s “tips” for all of you non-Mariachi speakers – for those who don’t know me, I like to imitate people occasionally) and held out his hand.

I can’t remember exactly what I gave him, but I’m sure it was the lowest denomination that Mexico has ever seen (based on my memory of the look of disgust that was on his face)! I guess I wasn’t following proper tipping etiquette.

Why Does Tipping Etiquette Force Us To Reward Bad Service?

Because the restaurant was too cheap to pay this “band” a living wage, and they had to survive on teeps! Why does tipping etiquette force us to pay certain service providers tips? I mean, I’m used to hearing all of the common reasons, such as:

Many waiters earn less than the minimum wage, and a large part of their income is derived from tips.
A waiter may be required to tip other coworkers (bartenders, busboys, etc), regardless of if they receive a tip.
To show gratitude for good or great service.
To encourage the employee to continue their good service.
Hairdressers and barbers rent their booths/chairs.
The cab driver got you to your destination in one piece.
Blah, blah, blah Etc, etc, etc

So…even after hearing those arguments, I still have the same question. Why am I expected to pay someone a tip? Why am I expected to supplement a cheap employer who pays their workers $4/hr, and then forces that employee to supplement their underpaid coworkers? Why should I pay extra because someone does their job? Shouldn’t someone work hard for the pay that they agreed to?

Tipping Etiquette Helps To Supplement Low Wages?

If it’s a matter of supplementing a low income, there is a much better way to handle this. The employer can just pay a fair wage to all workers and, IF NECESSARY, charge a slightly higher price for their product/service. A restaurant should not expect their customers to pay a fair price for their meal & service, and then pay a 15 – 20% surcharge because they (the restaurant) are too cheap to pay a living wage to the waiters!

The argument about rewarding/assuring good service falls short in my mind as well. A paying customer should receive good service automatically. Good service should not be a reward for a high tip, nor should terrible service be the punishment for a low one. And if it is truly about “gratuity” then it shouldn’t be automatically included with any meals – and you certainly shouldn’t be arrested for not paying a tip!!!

It’s to the point now where a waiter will give terrible service, and the customers are still discussing how much of a tip to leave! This is insane! Most people pay tips out of guilt – we know that it is an expectation and we feel like cheap jerks if we don’t!

The customer is already paying for the good or service and will many times reward good service with repeat business. If I enjoy the food at a particular restaurant, or the cleanliness and service of a hotel, then I will make it a point to visit that establishment as often as my budget allows.

A Better Alternative To Tipping Etiquette

I believe that the employer should just pay a fair wage to their employees. I also believe that great service is rewarded by both a positive report to the manager/owner (so that the employee benefits) and repeat business (so that the owner benefits). This way the employee earns real money and also has the opportunity for raises, bonuses and promotions – based on all of the good reports from satisfied customers.

Also, the business would have a repeat customer that is glad to spend their money in their establishment – because they are satisfied with the product and level of service. This sounds like a win-win situation to me!

Before I get a ton of angry comments and emails, let me explain a few things:

I DO pay tips for good service.
I pay EXCELLENT tips for excellent service. I have paid tips of between 75 and 100% on a number of occasions (usually on smaller bills, of course).
While I believe that waiters should be paid a fair wage, I realize that it is not their fault that our current system is illogical.
My tips are based solely on service – I DO NOT CARE that a waiter is underpaid – bad service = NO TIP!!!

So after thinking this matter over, I still don’t like the idea of tips and I think there is a better way!

photo credit: bradleygee

Reader Questions:

What are your feelings about tipping etiquette?
Would you be willing to pay a little more for the service so that the employees can be paid a fair wage?
If you are in the service industry, do you treat customers better when they tip?