Wow - living in San Francisco, I cannot imagine being able to survive on $6.55 an hour. Even in places where the cost of living is considerably lower, I'm sure it's still nearly impossible, with the cost of gas, as mentioned, as well as the cost of food, medical care, etc. But of course, the people who decide what minimum wage should be don't have to try to live on it, and probably never have. Heaven forbid they put themselves in someone else's shoes...

If Congress can really dictate what wages ought to be, and what the market can actually bear, why don't they just do the poor working stiff a REAL favor and set the minimum wage at $80,000/yr.?
Or better still, mandate genuine WEALTH for the entry-level positions that are available to unskilled & poorly educated entry level workers?

Much better than a cheesy, inflationary payment aimed to stimulate us..., economically, wouldn't you say?

I have no doubt that the Kennedy family could afford a minimum of $250,000/yr for their gardeners & household staff.., the guy who polishes the Bentley and the hot Euro sports cars.., their bodyguards ought to be worth At Least that.

Of course they might have to repeal a few economic laws to achieve such a thing. The law of supply & demand comes to mind... but when did THAT law ever hinder Congress' passage of such an obvious vote-getter as this?

While I agree that minimum wage should be at least at a level to lift people out of poverty, as a former small(micro) business owner I can see another side of the picture - one that never gets addresed. Tiny mom and pop stores cannot afford to pay high wages because they are taxed by the government at incredibly high rates (payroll taxes especially) Many of these micro business owners make barely above minimum wage themselves, and are sometmes forced to close their shops if when minimum wage goes up.
So - it's a bigger problem that just the surface issue of the lowest paid workers. If we want to have small individual non-corporate businesses, there needs to be some type of tax break so they can afford to pay their employees a living wage.

I's like to see Congress set a "Maximum Wage"! I know, only in my dreams. bush, cheney, gramm et al would be so destitute being forced to live off a few millions per year

What's your point?

What does your research show is actually true for small businesses with fewer than, say, six employees?

Yeah, and all their kids should have to go serve in Viet Nam, -- oh whoops, I meant Iraq. Without being able to go AWOL, of course, as did King George.

It's way past time for the minimum wage to go up, particularly because so many people incorrectly believe it's only teenagers or the uneducated working for minimum wage! I completed my BA last year (was naive enough to have majored in a social science!) and despite graduating magna cum laude, I'm making minimum wage part time because that's all I've been able to get so far. On these wages it's not even enough to make my student loan payments.

I couldnt live on $6.55 an hour if my life depended on it!
With full hours and no taxes......it still wont pay my rent or anybody elses.

Yes I agree with Sarah. There needs to be some balance. Give the tax brakes to small
businesses since we already do to the huge corporations. And then perhaps there could be some sort of mandated profit sharing indexed to the profit margin of each company. Wal-mart would be a good place to start.

Big businesses, especially big retail chains, hire more minimum wage workers than medium or small businesses. Large stores can hire people for just one job, but small businesses need people who can do more than one thing. Small business owners are also more likely to feel responsible for their workers, and do things to help them if they can't make a living. Making Walmart pay its workers more helps small and medium businesses compete.

Someone mentioned the tax breaks that big businesses receive. I think that getting rid of corporate welfare would have a bigger impact on small businesses than any change in the minimum wage.

USA does not believe in a minimum wage that lifts peole out of poverty. Our social attitude seems to be that there must be working poor for many to be able to whom they may compare themseslves and not feel as bad with their own lot in life.

The attitude is very sad, and it may be socialy destablilizing in the future.

TDW

Santa Fe's living wage is actually $9.50 an hour. $10.50 is still a goal at this point. Still, it feels a little bit better to work a service job here. Too bad those are most of the jobs.

Helen claims: ["Big businesses, especially big retail chains, hire more minimum wage workers than medium or small businesses."]

Link to some supporting stats please, Helen?
Yeah.., I know we all love to hate WalMart, But...