The recent struggle that has pursued all levels of government to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour is missing one key factor: logic. Those in favor believe “No one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty,” as our president so eloquently stated. A clearer view would be, “No one who works full time should ever attempt to raise a family on minimum wage.”
Throughout the last century, minimum wage laws have allowed persons to have a decent start, a reasonable estimation for teenagers or young adults to receive some compensation for their untrained abilities. In pursuit of the American Dream, no person should seek to subsist on minimum wage for any great length of time, especially in attempting to raise a family.
Rather than increasing minimum wage, which will hyperinflate the economy (leading to a continual need for increased wages), we should seek to train and educate people to better themselves and find those higher-paying positions that are more fit for raising families. Instilling principles of integrity and responsibility, not dependence, is what will truly save our economy.
Cody Mills
Eagle, Idaho