How can we band together to get the minimum wage raised from 5.15 per hour?

Question

So here's the question the Republican Congress will put before the Senate:

"Over seven million Americans can have a raise of $2.15 an hour by raising the minimum wage, but only if we give a tax cut to 7,500 ultra-rich people at a cost of $753 billion dollars."

Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist has said that this will be the only vote he will allow on a minimum wage increase this year.
Here are some simple facts that can't be ignored:

* Someone working full-time for the $5.15 federal minimum wage makes just $10,700 a year. A single mom with two kids who works full-time for the minimum wage is about $6,000 below the poverty line.
* The federal minimum wage has been stuck at the same rate since1997. Since then, Republican leaders have raised the salaries of Senators seven times. Salaries of lawmakers have gone up by $35,000 -- almost three times the entire yearly income of someone on minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour adds up to more than one year of groceries, over 9 months of rent, a year and a half of heat and electricity, or full tuition for a community college degree.

Enough is enough. Contact your Senators and tell them to reject this shameful bill by signing this petition:
http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/wage/fqvylg

I am surprised at some of the negative answers. Yes, people work for minimum wage or a bit above--even people with experience who support famililes. Large groups of people work in retail, fast food, health care support, office support, resaurants, and child care to name some areas that generally pay minimum wage or slightly above, don't generally offer health care or retirement plans. However, we need these workers. Why not pay them a living wage (which is enough to pay for the most basic, necessary square footage apartment, pay for childcare, and eat basic healthy meals? Should this not be a standard for someone who works full-time and contributes to our society? The largest percentage of poor people are working mothers.

Answer 1

Ya know it's the close minded people like that one above me that cause this problem. They are so sheltered in their own little lives with their nice little paycheck, that they forget about the rest of the world. Yes, a lot of people do work for minimum wage! I'm one of them. I'm a widow with two kids, and I have to work over 50 hours a week just to pay the bills. I had to drop out of college to work more hours when my husband died. Now I'm stuck in a minimum wage rut. Without finishing my degree, I can't make more money. Get real! A lot of people still work for minimum wage.

Answer 2

In the States where minimum wage is only $5.15, the cost of living is VERY low. I lived in Oklahoma for a year, and minimum wage there was $5.65. My rent was $225.
In WA state, which is where I'm from originally, the minimum wage is nearly $8. I'm not sure of the exact amount these days, haven't lived there for almost two years. However, if I was to rent the same kind of apartment that I rented in Oklahoma, it would cost upwards of $500.
I do disagree with giving Senators and Congress so many raises. I do disagree with giving the rich huge tax cuts, unless they're contributing on a large scale. I disagree with raising the national minimum wage. It should be left to the States to decide.

Answer 3

This is exactly how I think about raising minimum wage. People don't think. Why is cost of living cheap in certain states or towns, but so expensive in others? The answer is the minimum wage. You can't just raise one thing and leave everything else the way it was.

Answer 4

I agree and with the way gas prices are how can anybody survive. Luckily my state just raised our minimum wage from 5.15 to 6.15 not much but better then 5. So yes people call your congress person and tell them how you feel. They need to know, thats what they are here for.

Answer 5

we do not need a minimum wage increase.

a minimum wage increase would make the cost of lots of things go up.

for example, that $1 mcdonalds hamburger you enjoyed for lunch will go up to $2.

cna's will get an increase causing medicare and medicaid claims to go up increasing our taxes to pay for it.

entry level jobs will cost employers more causing them to hire less.

higher wages means higher tax bracket so you will actually take home about the same amount of wages anyway.

minimum wage jobs are starting out wages and were meant to introduce you to the working world.

you are not supposed to remain their for life. for every good benifit you can think of in support of a higher minimum wage there are 3 reasons not to raise it.

Answer 6

Look the first thing we need to do is get rid of ALL the senate and congress by Voteing them ALL out!! I mean everyone of them And start over with some NEW People in there. Them F-ing dinasores have been in there since the start of the united states. And we need to get them OUT!!!

Answer 7

You are missing one thing, raise the minimum wage and cost go up, so it ends up making no difference. I personally don't know any one who makes the min. wage, if they are "worth their salt" they get paid for it. Raising the min. wage is just a political ploy for politicians to buy votes and unions to raise their wages. If you check, inflation only became a problem the the min. wage was established. Finally, if the min. wage is raised that would put me closer to poverty line.

Answer 8

Nobody works for minimum wage anyway!

Answer 9

Congrats from the future. Your idiotic idea caused the worst economic collapse since the great depression. I bet you feel really stupid now.

Answer 10

Or..... you can get off of your ***, get educated or learn a skill, and then you won't have to worry about ever being in a position to make crap for money.