Being caught in scandal here is not shame, these people wear it like a badge of honour!

Helping to train people is like giving them things! If anyone really wanted to learn, they'd find a way. Library is open to everyone!
As in any other country these training initiatives are a joke, people who otherwise had no interest in training sign up, scam what they can, take jobs they have no passion for and nobody wins.
All people can't get ahead, all people will never be successful, some people need to be poor, its the way it works!
Stop giving away money towards people who haven't earned it, the people with drive will succeed on their own. And those without, let them live the life they create!

What relevance does standard of living have? All people are free to pursue their dreams, be what they want, aint nutting holding them back. Study in the library, get some brains, work hard, succeed. If you aint willing to do that, your standard of living is what you make it.
No shortage of opportunity here, just shortage of willingness to try. A country that makes nutting can support numbers small manufacturing. Make some souvenirs for tourists for instance, anyone can do that. If you live in a dump and below poverty it's because you made your bed.

As for mag wheels and fancy phones being a "rite of passage"; well that just defines your simple mind. You reap what you so!
Any idiot that chooses to buy junk over the pursuit of improving their future deserves the few items of junk they buy.

To guarantee a segment of population a half decent income "just because" through minimum wage is to guarantee a segment of population will be useless.
Try it yourself, pick a person, spoon feed them, lend them money, set them up in business, give them a job they haven't earned, you will soon see them screw it all up and be back where they started.
If people earn their way, then they worked to get there, and work to stay there, anything less is an insult to those of us who try!
Don't give anyone nothing!

Let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill, this is just one bribe of many. Sweep it under the rug and carry on, "nothing to see here folks", move along.

I'm not sure what all this talk is about? Aren't bribes the norm? If we prosecute on person for taking a bribe, then don't we have to prosecute all people who take bribes? This can't be good, who would we have left in government to run the country? What will we do with these convicted bribe takers; built a dozen new prisons to hold them?

I wonder what they will do to "identify & train"; are we talking about getting new employee identification bracelets? Will the training be a supplement to the outstanding educations system we already have?
I'm really hopeful that the new "identification" program will finally tackle one of our greatest problems- having a way to identify each employee, in the past we've had to take the employees word for it, and call them by name.

While it's true Vat has hit everyone, thankfully for us in business, when we pay out vat, we get it all back, so it really only effects us in our private lives, like when we go out for dinner, or buy our wive's and kids new cars, jewelry or clothes. So ultimately, Vat costs our businesses only in the record keeping and remittences, but at home we are paying a lot more vat than our employees.
Personally my living costs run approximately 20 times what my employees earn, so clearly I pay considerably more in VAT than they do. I don't see any reason that we should have to raise minimum wages as Vat has already taken from our pockets.
Minimum wages are just that, minimums, If these minimums are raised we shall be forced to layoff workers, and increase the workload on the remaining workforce to keep overall labor costs the same. Perhaps we could find other ways to help our employees such as a seed program and community farms, so they can grow their own food and stretch their dollars.
Also, it could be said that lowering minimum wage could improve overall employment numbers, in this economy that sounds a whole lot more practical and beneficial.
In a free market system, the market is supposed to decide on things like price and wage levels. There is no shortage in workers at the moment, so what reason could possibly drive up wages. As dani has said, in many countries wages are much much lower, and people are surviving!
I wonder what's behind this "raise minimum wage" talk, I haven't seen any indication people are short of money. Do you notice all the folk with fancy wheels on their cars, have a look at any store that sells liquor on Friday, not shortage of money to by booze, drive around on the weekend, people partying everywhere, looks to me like we paying too much to workers already.

If one can sit back and take an objective point of view; only those people from a few impoverished countries place any real value on our passports. Anyone from a real nation, would not want to associate with this one, unless of course they're evading taxes.

Let's be honest, this place is a joke, with standards and policy driving in a race to the bottom.

Lets not forget people, those of us who have healthcare, and can get an appointment, or treatment fairly quickly; well we can only get this because the majority doesn't have health insurance and can't afford a trip to the doctor.
Once everyone has coverage, then everyone will use the system, and then we will see how little we have in the way of health care resources.
A country that has been serving only half the population (as an example) can not jump to serving the whole population without years and years of growing pains.
A good guess is we will need twice as many of everything, doctors, clinics etc etc etc
How they gonna fund that, and how long will that take.

Likely, service for those who have had good insurance, will go way downhill, due to an overloaded system.

For those who have not had insurance, well anything is going to appear as an improvement...

hey jus2cents

I might go one step further than you and suggest that it's time we all move past the fake and imaginary god worship dogma.
Let's all get a grip, there is no god, there is no need to have churches, there is no point in giving them money so they can drive fancy cars and live in big house.
And if there was a god, and you think he is good to you; given all that the "god" doesn't accomplish in the lives of others, given all the pain and suffering and death that the worlds children go through, the god could only be considered a total jackass and not worthy of acknowledgment much less any amount of respect, most certainly not deserving of worship, and why oh why would a "god" need your money.
It's a total scam people, time to wake up!!!!!

Just imagine, 9 million children die each year before the age of 5, only a complete idiot would try and spin this into "god works in mysterious ways", and one would have to be completely brainless to believe this!