Minimum wage should be $21.72 per hour.

[ReRe]

20. And in the late 60s....

... a certain group became very greedy. Then Dick Nixon froze wages in 1973 (?). No more cost-of-living or merit raises. Seven years later, in comes Reagan and started in on wiping out the Unions and the concept of down-sizing (squeezing 2-3 jobs into 1.) Then in comes Clinton and brings in "Free Trade", which began the out-sourcing of jobs. And it's all been downhill from there. $9/hr is not a living wage. You tell me where in the USA that $9/hr is a living wage and I'll call the moving Co tomorrow, because I'm moving there. Of course, it would probably be way out in the boondocks in a red state with no internet access. But like someone mentioned up thread, if they had to pay a living wage, the cost of everything would go up. It wouldn't be any different than if you was only making $9/hr. In other words, the group that I mentioned above has us where they want us. Ask someone who makes $9/hr what upward mobility is. They don't know what it is, because it doesn't exist anymore. Unless you are cut-throats like that group I mentioned at the top of this reply. The only mobility they seem to want is up for them and down for everyone else. The USA as I knew it, is almost no more.