I guess I can't understand why minimum wage has not risen to mirror inflation. My grandfather had a high school education and was able to buy a house, car, vacations, and support a family of four as an employee at Safeway. This was as an entry level employee. Yes, he did work his way up the ladder and retired as a manager. Two degrees, two incomes, no kids and people are still having difficulty achieving the "American Dream" that my grandfather experienced, which makes it difficult to buy into the ideal of the American Dream. Alot of people support these benevolent companies and shareholders just to have health insurance. That is a whole other discussion.

@FOTD13 Sounds like he did not do all that by staying on the arbitrary "minimum wage."
You can still make a good living by making good choices, just like always.
Get a skilled Trade certification for less that $10K, and get a job starting around $80K/yr with advancement opportunities in an area of moderate cost-of-living where you can still get a house for $100K... and you're on your way up the ladder.

If you're trying to start out $100K in debt for a worthless degree, working for minimum wage (because... worthless degree), in an area where you can't find a house for less than a half-million dollars; well then, you've made some bad choices.

Government-intervention in Education, Housing, and Health Insurance is driving those things out-of-reach for everybody. And more Government-intervention, to (ostensibly) help a small percentage of the workforce "catch up", only makes it worse in the long run.

@rway I teach at a tech school and there are no entry level jobs in any of the trades we teach that start at 80,000. Maybe 45,000 and that is pushing it. The median existing home price was $295,300 in June 2020. West Virginia has the lowest median home value in the U.S. at $107,064. WV ranks forty-eighth in GDP per capita.

Why in God's name would you be fighting for the rights of corporations. They do not care about their employees, ie your family, friends, and neighbors. We continue to subsidize large corporations and they can't be bothered to pay their employes a decent wage.

I try my best to not shop at any of the big box stores. Most of that cheap crap is made in China. But everyone likes the cheap prices. Who cares if it kills small business and supports our enemy. You are right business is not a charity or public service, but they use tax payer infrastructure, tax payer military, tax payer education, not to mention bail outs and subsidies.

Greed will destroy this country. George Washington held the greatest power in the world and gave it over willingly for the betterment of his country. Be like George.

@FOTD13 Again, entry-level wages depend upon where you go. Where I live, they can't build houses fast enough because they can't find people who know how to do the various jobs; and they're offering pay accordingly. Pre-"COVID", anyway.
No matter how you try to spin it, trade school is cheaper than a 4-year gender studies degree, and pays better no matter where you go.

Corporations don't have any rights that you don't have. They also don't owe you anything.
I don't expect them to "care" about me or my family... that's weird. A corporation is an inanimate entity, not a social worker or a beer-buddy.
Do you care about them? No? ...then why would you expect them to care about you?
I expect them to respond to my input with the previously agreed-upon output (a paycheck.)

If you don't like the Government bailing them out... talk to the Government about that.
What, do you think the Corporation is going to turn it down? Would you? Did you turn-down your "stimulus" check?
That's another example of the Government intervention that I mentioned above.

@rway I wasn't spinning anything. You where pulling numbers out of thin air that suited your narrative. A very lefty thing to do. And there are more degrees than the one you stated that are worth the price of a degree. But, yes trade school is less expensive.

Corporate personhood gives rights to a business which you claim is an inanimate entity. What other inanimate entities are given personhood? I don't think the founding fathers ever imagined a business as a person with rights. Businesses used to care, as a matter of fact a lot of times they where the center of a community. Like Anchor Hocking glass company. I recommend reading Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town by Brian Alexander. This country is run by multi-national companies, who as you correctly pointed out, don't care about us.

@FOTD13 Hey, sorry for the late response.
I agree, "spin" wasn't the right word; "no matter how you look at it..." would have been better.
The "narrative" was that tech school costs less and produces more income than most college courses; to which you explicitly agreed, so I guess there's no argument.

My arbitrary examples were no more specifically relevant than your regional observations. There are hundreds (at least) of regional "markets" in the U.S. with their own statistics, and plenty of other factors to plug into the calculator for that type of analysis.
But median home prices are not one of them. The first-time home-buyer will probably be more interested in the availability of homes that they can afford; which, in some markets... is none at all if you've invested 4+ years and tens-of-thousands of dollars to become a documented "expert" in an unmarketable discipline.

Corporate "personhood" is a ridiculous misnomer; it does not make the corporation a person.
I'm sure we would agree that Corporations have Responsibilities to the community. Responsibilities are an attribute of personhood. Without that, they could never be held accountable for their actions as legal entities. I don't think the founders imagined a business as something that could get away with anything because it had no legal responsibilities.
The other side of that same coin is Rights; with regard to the extent to which, and the means by which, the corporation is held accountable by the community.
There is some overlap between the rights/responsibilities of a corporation, and the rights/responsibilities of a person... but that obviously does not imply that they are "the same thing".

I don't agree that any business ever "cared" about the community. That's an anthropomorphic description of self-serving behavior. Businesses often mimic "altruism", to the extent that it is good for the business itself; but even that determination is made by the people within... people who are a part of the community.
A "one-company" town is a future ghost town, it's just a matter of time. The business nurtures the community, for the same reason the community nurtures the business... out of a symbiotic mutual reliance; not because it "cares".