If minimum wage is so easily lived on, why don't the politicians prove it?

What kind of idiot tries to "live on" minimum wage??? Minimum Wage jobs are for people JUST entering the job world. If you're trying to support yourself or raise a family... and the BEST you can do is a minimum wage job..... the problem isn't with the "wages".... the problem is with YOU. You need to explain how you're raising a family and haven't adequately prepared yourself to be a PROVIDER.

I personally think politicians should work for free. The argument that they need to be paid so that average people could run went out the window years ago. Only the wealthy can afford to enter politics. But I also believe in abolishing the mimimum wage. When you create a minimum wage, you increase costs to businesses who in turn, raise the costs of goods and services - it causes inflation. So people who get minimum wage are still stuck at the bottom and other people who are slightly above minimum wage get hurt even worse by wage compression and rising cost of living. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics knows that minimum wages don't work. But Democrats sell it to the masses because it sounds good even if it isn't going to help them. The only way out is education. You get paid for skills. If you don't have any skills, you aren't worth much in the marketplace, plain and simple. No minimum wage will ever fix that.

Don't be a fool. The Minimum wage was never meant to be lived on. It is for entry level workers, not for those supporting families. More people would be employed right now if there were no minimum wage. Wage is determined by market forces the less people that are able to do what you can do the more valuable you are. you cannot pay someone if they don't add value. Lets say you think im crazy. Why not make the minimum wage $20 hr.? or $ 30? Let me answer for you. Unemployment would go up like crazy and all the goods and services that you love today would likely increase past your current wage. The higher the minimum wage the higher business costs are and the higher consumer costs are. Everything is interconnected, in a dynamic market economy.

I think we should make them all live in Detroit while we are at it.

I agree with ShtHammer. The top 2% of wage earners pay more than half of the income taxes of this country. The system is set up so that those who pay no income or property taxes keep voting in politicians who offer pie in the sky promises. It's immoral for these politicians to bribe people with promises. What we need are leaders who can give people a kick in the pants and tell them to be responsible for themselves and to think and prepare before bringing children into this world or they will doom those children to a hard life where they too will expect someone else to foot the bill for them. America is a generous country but we're no longer a hardworking country when we have so many who feel that they're entitled to other people's money. If someone is living comfortably, why is there always the assumption that he somehow took advantage of someone else? Could it be that he stayed in school, made the right choices, got married before making babies and stuff like that? Minimum wage jobs are not the type of job you can raise a family on. They are entry level jobs for people with limited skills. If you mandate increases to the minimum wage, you are going to kill jobs. Take a look at what our pinhead NY City Council did in the Bronx last week. They killed a project in the Bronx, the city's highest unemployed neighborhood, because the developer of a project refused to be bullied into paying higher than market wage for all of the new jobs at the site. The Borough President even said that "any job is better than no job is not good enough for us!" before they scuttled the deal.

Why in the world should anyone be expected to pay you more than you are worth?? If you can't live on it, do something to make yourself worth more. I know what congressmen have done to get where they are. I know what I did to get out of poverty. What have you done? Why should a fry cook make the same as a chef? Why should a stockman make the same as a stock broker? Why should a cashier make the same as a bank president? Every time minimum wage is raised unemployment goes up. Maybe you need a better group of friends with some drive. Capex, try some real links to real websites http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/against/against.htm http://home.comcast.net/~truthsucks/minimum_wage.html http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa004.html http://www.npri.org/publications/raising-the-minimum-unemployment-rate http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/dt/V141/N20/03-boost.20v.html

Politicians don't want to "stoop to our level" if they've got the money. Politics are a part of a big, corrupted world.

you make a good point.but any one could earn more than minimum wage.you need to put yourself in a position of demand.most people earn what they deserve based on there ability to do the work they are assinged.but i do agree those you speek of are OVER paid in my poinion also.i hope this helps.

The Bush administration’s enormous tax breaks for the wealthy must be rolled back on the richest 1 percent of our population with yearly incomes averaging $1.3 million. Tax burdens on the middle class can be eased if the wealthy pay their share. Thirty seven million people equivalent to the population of California are living in poverty in the U.S. today. These immoral levels of poverty, which disproportionately impact communities of color and women, can be significantly reduced through concerted effort including a living wage for all workers, expanded earned income tax credits, childcare assistance and housing vouchers.