The United States’ minimum wage was enacted by the federal government in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Cornell University Law School defines minimum wage as laws to establish a base level of pay that employers are required to pay certain covered employees” (“Minimum Wage”). The minimum wage started out at $.25 per hour (equal to $4.19 in 2015 (Kurtz and Yellin) when the law was first established. This law was part of the New Deal President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law in 1938. Although the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25, several states have their own minimum wage laws above $7.25. A few of the states among the highest minimum wage are Washington, D.C. which has a minimum wage of $10.50, California and Massachusetts which have a minimum wage of $10, and Alaska which has a minimum wage of $9.75 (“The 10 States”). While a person could live on minimum wage alone, they could only support their self, no kids or other family members, and they would still be teetering on the brink of poverty. A person working a full time job at minimum wage pay earns just over $15,000 a year, just a few thousand dollars over the United States government’s poverty threshold. People who earn tips …show more content…
We need to keep the minimum wage low, because everybody wants to make a lot more than minimum wage, and an increase won’t make anyone’s dreams come true. It’s kind of like saying to a hungry person: “I could give you a sandwich, but I know what you’d really love is an eight-course meal at the Four Seasons. So no sandwich.” Or saying to the public: “It would be great if we could magically eliminate 100 percent of crime, but since we can’t, we’re not going to bother to have a police