Minimum Wage

I feel it's important to tell you about this little rant Bill Maher did on his show last Friday on the topic of minimum wage. I actually did not know this fact, and yet it doesn't surprise me, but the minimum wage has not been raised since 1997 in the US. That's absolutely appalling and ridiculous.

The entire concept of minimum wage is based on the fact that it should be the lowest possible wage on which a person can live and sustain himself. This prevents exploitation and, in a sense, slave labour, by corporations seeking to take advantage of the situation. There are millions of people in the United States (and Canada) who earn no more than the minimum wage. The US federal minimum wage is currently at $5.15, which is considerably lower than what we have in Canada. Adjusted for inflation, this is lower than it was in the 1960s! Admittedly, some states have raised their minimum wages higher (thanks to legislation introduced by Clinton), but there are some which are actually LOWER than the federal level, and some which do not have any type of minimum wage legislation at all! A quick calculation shows that the annual income for a person earning minimum wage in the US is just slightly above $10,000 before taxes. Woooooooooo! Busting the bank there...

Check out Maher's rant (it's at the end of the video if you want to skip past the other funny stuff).