It’s hard enough to think about one person surviving on minimal wage ($5.15), but in America not only do single people survive on minimal wage but single parents. Here is the math on minimal wage:
- You will earn $10,700 a year.
- You will be $5,000 below the poverty line working a standard 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.
It startling to think that since former President Bill Clinton raised the minimal wage, the Bush administration has not done it once. Does $5.15 buy what it did in 1997? Out of the millions of dollars that the government wastes through fraud through cost-plus contracts and disasters like Katrina, you would think there would be some money left for the working class of America. Apparently not because Congress is too busy increasing their wages a total of seven times since 1997. This means that they are making $28,500 more a year than what they did in 1997. This is being done while 4.3 million Americans have fallen below the poverty line since President Bush left office.
What are your feelings towards an increase in minimal wage? What are the economic impacts of raising the minimal wage? As always, I welcome your comments.
