I have a few critiques:
1.
That number for what the minimum wage should be is way off. If you took that 25 cents and adjusted for an average
inflation rate of 5% over 67 years, the minimum wage would be $6.57. Discounting the huge inflation in parts of the
80's, I don't think inflation has been that high for 67 years, meaning that I think the number should be a little
lower.
2. You can make the minimum wage argument all you want, but the fact is that the minimum wage exists
because the supply for people is higher than the demand for people, meaning that companies would have to pay
less than the minimum wage in order to have a 0% unemployment rate and still have all businesses remain
profitable. The question is, do you want a high unemployment rate or a low minimum wage? The higher the minimum wage
is, the less jobs will be available, thus increasing the unemployment rate. It's a tradeoffs between the number of
jobs and the pay of jobs.
3. That $57K number is one of those amounts that is probably for a high number of
family members. My mom was a single parent raising two children, and she made a lot less than that. We were
poor, but we were able to survive. In college, I calculated that I could live on $7K per year by myself on the dirt
cheap rent I was paying and living on the cheapest food available (after all, we are talking about being able to
live, not being able to live comfortably) with no car (you could walk or take the metro to work) and almost no
additional expenses (Good Will, anyone?). Adding additional family members does not increase rent (unless you want
to add more bedrooms, but I am still going on the basis of being able to live, not live well - please don't say you
can't because I still practically live like this with the occasional perk here and there...probably an extra $2K
(housing not included because I live in an expensive city rather than my cheap college room - I could live in a
worse neighborhood) than my estimate last year...one day I'll learn not to be cheap). That is still below the
minimum yearly wage of $5.45 per hour (Is that what it is now? It was $5.15 when I worked at that rate.), which is
over $11,000 per year. This is not including the fact that you could live with someone else who also works and save
money on rent by living together.
It would be nice to have a higher minimum wage (anyone who has worked for
minimum wage would know that), but I believe in taking personal responsibility and doing whatever it takes so that
you can earn a job that makes more than that if you are so worried (or work in one place long enough to earn
seniority and make more than that amount). You can also get a second job (again, I practice what I preach - I have
worked two jobs before, and I may begin again soon for extra $$$ if I can suck up the courage to go back to a
low-paying job to supplement my nice-paying job).
It's not a life of luxury, but I think a person can make it
in this country if he or she puts their mind to it. It is a lot better than raising unemployment. Feel free to
refute my facts/opinions, but I was just doing as you asked and fighting the good fight.
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