Sorry... a $15 minimum wage is too high

[noamnety]

204. I reject your argument.

The minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation. By simply saying "oh we will adjust for inflation, problem solved" you ignore the legacy of the effect of surviving without a living wage.

It's much like urban schools in depressed areas. Without the tax base of Grosse Pointe or Bloomfield Hills, the Detroit schools, supported by mainly local taxes, accrued decades of severe structural and maintenance problems. Then along with Proposal A, which switched school funding to mainly state taxes - a much more equitable approach. However, $100,000 in Grosse Pointe schools can be used for ipads, or swimming pools, or orchestra equipment, or a couple extra teachers - but in Detroit, it doesn't cover the cost of roof repairs that had been neglected to the point where some of the ceilings were literally caving in. So it's "even" funding - but still not equitable until the legacy is addressed.

When we look at families who have been surviving on the minimum wage, instead of being able to build equity in homes, or keep up with basic expenses or preventative health care, they have decades of accrued extra expenses and debts they are dealing with. This includes health problems they've put off addressing, or debt from the ones they did address. No home equity because there was no way to scrape together a down payment or qualify for a loan - so they will be paying rent throughout their old age, instead of having a house paid off. And there's no house for kids to inherit. They will have spent more dealing with the predatory lenders that DWS is so fond of. They don't have 401k plans. The pensions that covered almost half of all private sector employees in the 1970's now covers 3% of employees.