Republicans in the Senate defeated a bill today that would have increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour by January 1, 2009. This would have been the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade. Currently, inflation adjusted, minimum wage is the lowest it has been since WWII.
Since the last time that minimum wage has been increased, the congress has increased their own pay by more than $31,000. That is almost 3 times the amount that someone working minimum wage takes home in a year (assuming a 40 hour work week and no vacation or sick time taken during the year).
This is absolutely sickening. After all, the guy who is serving me fries with my burger hasn't voted to tripled the national debt in those ten years.
A person making minimum wage makes $10,712 a year. This puts them under the poverty line and makes them a ward of the state for financial assistance. Mega companies like Wal-mart shift the burden from the consumers to the tax payers in order to support the lower end of the economic spectrum. How can a person have dignity in their work when they can't even be paid enough for their services to hit the poverty line.
Those of you how say, "well, Economics 101 tells you that if you get rid of the minimum wage, wages will increase... blah, blah, blah." Anyone who says this obviously never took Economics 201, 301, or any other economics other than Economics 101. If they did, they would know that statement is full of crap. It only works in text book perfect settings. Of course, Marxism works in text book perfect settings too, but we know that it doesn't work in real life.
It is time that congress gets off its fat bloated pompous ass and raise the minimum wage. Otherwise, people are just working... not working for a living.
Senate defeats Democrats' minimum wage increase
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