Recently, leftist leaders including, , Ted Kennedy, attempted to enact legislation that would bring about an increase in the minimum wage. The last time this wage floor was increased was in 1997. Currently, the minimum wage stands at $5.15/hr., had this bill passed Congress, the wage would have risen to $7.25/hr. Leftists complain that since the economy is performing well and is expected to do so for the foreseeable future, a change is warranted…wait a minute, did anyone catch that? These are the same Democrats, who have charged since 2001, that our economy is continuing to slide further into the toilet, now, when it suits them, they recognize that the economy is not in the toilet after all. Leftists further note, that the cost of living (including gas and housing) have all increased since the last change in 1997. Minimum wage advocate, Ted Kennedy, argued a 40-hour-a-week minimum wage job would leave a family of three nearly $5,000 below the poverty line. And that’s exactly the point! Minimum wage, shouldn’t exist in the first place, but since it does, those who earn this wage, shouldn’t expect to be able to raise a family on such wages. To do so is foolhardy at best and downright selfish at worst. This reality highlights something we have been saying for a while. Those who are poor, by and large, are in that predicament, because of their own personal failures. There is no excuse for anyone attempting to raise a family on minimum wage. Minimum wage is an appropriate wage for a minimum skill job. It is not the responsibility of the state to ensure, that those who lack initiative and lack resourcefulness should be rewarded for failure. Whether earning minimum wage or 100K per year, people must realize that in life there are priorities. From birth those priorities begin with education, then financial stability and then raising a family, not the other way around. The left continues to complain that the cost of living has increased, yet the left says nothing as the people they are attempting to further subjugate, continue to practice self-destructive (and poverty inducing) behavior.
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/1005/24edwages.html