Should the minimum wage be lowered to $6 per hour?

Great Debates
101

All right! Another poster who has no clue about the realities of being working poor! Again, this sounds like “Let them eat cake!” to those of us who’ve had any actual contact with poverty. “Don’t like your job at McDonald’s? Just become an investment banker!”

The fact that some people have managed to work their way out of poverty into the middle class (I’m one of them) doesn’t mean those who are unable to are lazy, weak or stupid. Someone who’s working poor may not be able to afford trade school/college even with financial aid. And if they’ve got children, working full-time and going to school may not be cost-effective if they’ve got to pay for childcare 16 hours a day. Living in poverty is hard, not just for the obvious reasons but also because you get stuck in a cycle that’s damn hard to escape. Any minor emergency expense can mean the difference between having groceries for the week or not. Or being able to pay rent. And if you miss rent, you’re completely fucked - if you’re evicted, there’s no getting your deposit back to put down on a new place. I wouldn’t wish constantly having less than $20 in your bank account on anyone - it’s a horrible way to live. And I sure as hell wouldn’t tell them to just get a better job.

102

And you think the two things can be divorced?

Economics is driven by fear and greed. Most people consider those to be emotions.

103

Life is hard enough. Most of us are working very hard just to get by. We do not all have the same opportunities. It’s a known fact that if you’re born poor, you will most likely end up poor, and vice-versa if you’re rich.

The sad part is that there is enough to go around. We can use the government to provide things like food or housing assistance. We can develop education, healthcare and a number of other services if we work together. We need to get this part straight first. That’s our priority. Once we do that, then come back and talk about lowering the min. wage to $6 hour.