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.