Hey, low-wagers, what’s wrong with you?

Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks Coffee Company North America and Starbucks Coffee International, who started at the company back in 1989 when milk was like a nickel and college was still affordable and you could still rent an apartment for a reasonable amount, thinks you are doing it wrong.

Behar, the former Starbucks exec also says “there is something wrong” with people who stay in min. wage jobs for many years

— Jim Brunner (@Jim_Brunner)

January 7, 2015

Behar, a confirmed 70-Year-Old White Male, was overheard by Jim Brunner at a Washington Policy Center event in Bellevue where he was on a panel. Behar was not-subtly criticizing a $15 minimum wage, saying what all wealthy white dudes say: that it shouldn’t be expected to be entry level.

“His first job,” Brunner tweeted, “paid $1 an hour ‘and I wasn’t worth it.’”

Reminder: Behar was born in 1944. 

Of course, most logical people know that there are tons of reasons why people stay in low-wage jobs for long durations of time, none of which are Behar’s business.

But just in case Behar (or anyone!) was looking for some theorizing as to why someone would stay in a low-wage job for an amount of time, here’s some: THE WORLD IS FUCKING EXPENSIVE. More expensive than when Behar was shining shoes for $1 or whatever he was doing.

How expensive? We can tell you!

Asumming his first job was about 16 years after that, i.e. in 1960, that $1 was worth close to $8 by 2014 standards.

Which you may say, well, ok, that’s about the same as minimum wage in many states now, right? Ho ho, but you, my friend, would not be taking into account the inflation of other things, which have skyrocketed much beyond simple buying power.

In 1960, a brand-new home was about $16,500, or about $131,638.23 in 2014 (per the BLS, who have done all of this calculating for us). Assuming a strapping young Behar worked 40 hours per week at that dollar an hour and lived at home and was saving for that house, he could have saved up the 10% required for a downpayment in just a year.

In Seattle, in 2014, the average price for a new home was about $470,000, according to Zillow. 

To save up a 10% downpayment for that house, working at about $8/hr, 40 hours per week, with zero other expenses at all, it would take almost three years. So, mathematically  a low-wage worker might have to keep working for their relative $1/hr for, say, three times as long as Behar. To afford the same thing. 

But let’s look at the numbers for how someone could not have to work at their low-wage job for a long time — education!

In 1960, one year at Harvard cost $1,520, or about $12,126.67 in Today Money. Which, working even just 20 hours per week at that $1/hr job, Behar could almost have paid in full as he went. At literally any other, cheaper school, he could have put himself through on a part-time job.

One year at Harvard, as of the publication of this story, is currently about $62,250. Or an amount that almost no one could pay in full in one year. 

One year at the UW now, by the way, is about $20k, assuming you live with your parents. Or twice as much as one year of Harvard when Behar was breaking his back for that $1/hr that he wasn’t worth.

So, today’s low-wage workers, who Behar relied upon to make his millions when he was the President at Starbucks, what exactly is wrong with you?