The minimum wage debate is proof that Republicans have ultimately won.

[quaker bill]

10. The minimum wage was not created

to help teens put a few more bucks in their pockets over the summer. It was created because at the time a large swath of adults worked in various industries for less than what became the minimum.

In a strong and fast growing economy, like the one that existed when I started working in 1970, very few adults made the minimum. I did because it was my first job and I was 15. That said, even I was able to move to higher wages while still a teen, working part time.

In a stagnant economy, such as that created by Reagan / Volker in the 1980s, and generally maintained by FED policy and republican economic malfeasance up to the crash in 2007, more and more adults have become trapped in minimum and near minimum wage jobs, simply because there is no place for most of them to go.

One can imagine that hard and smart work will "take you places", and it can, but there has to be someplace to go. For most, there has not been someplace to go (other than broke) for a very long time.