Defeat of Minimum Wage Increase - A Good Thing?

Question

The Senate voted today 52-46 to defeat, for the ninth time since 1997, the proposal to increase the minimum wage. The lame, but predictable retort by Sen. Ted Kennedy, "Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it," and then claiming a worker would earn $10,700 per year - almost $6 grand below the poverty level for a family of three. How ridiculous! What planet is he from? Nobody with a family of three is going to go out and get a minimum wage job. They'd have to more than triple the minimum wage just to bring it outr of the poverty level! What most people don't realize is that some big unions have a handy little clause that ties in there wage to the minimum wage. Thus if it goes up, their wages go up. How convenient during and election year! Of course the poor stiffs who get laid off, well who cares, they're just the little guy?

Answer 1

Unfortunately there is no way to really fix this problem. If you increase the minimum wage, the prices of everything else would go up. It will most likely cause more out sourcing of good jobs, and leave the people who are making minimum wage in worse shape than they already are. Minimum wage is really not intended for somebody to be able to live and support a family off of.
In a capitalistic society, there will always be rich people and poor people, there is no way around that.
There is a form of government that regulates every body's wages, provides everything for its citizens, and treats everybody equally. It is called communism. Ask anybody from the former Soviet Union or Cuba how that works out.

Answer 2

Income increases have not matched cost increases.

Single people can not afford housing on their own, most households need two incomes to stay afloat, and one of those incomes needs to be from a specialized career- in order that there be ANY funds NOT going to basic necessities.
People are surviving off of extended CREDIT! We are living beyond our earned means. Yet can we be blamed when "the man" continues to keep our wages low.

It's not enough these days to have a job, to be able to pay the bills and have a home, you need two jobs. Is this the new standard for the "American way of life" ?