In the wealthiest nation on Earth today, there is debate over how much money people deserve for doing certain jobs. The current minimum wage requires that each person gets at least $7.25. Obama wants to raise the wage up to $9.00. What the raise in wage would signify wouldn't just be a physical increase in cash in people's pocket, it seems to me it would raise the value of people who work lower level jobs.
Before I get into that, it is interesting that the US didn't have a minimum wage until the end of World War II. Before then, the Supreme Court ruled it Unconstitutional to impose a federal minimum wage because it infringed upon the workers' rights to determine the work they do. As the years went by, the minimum wage eventually got instituted after FDR instituted the minimum wage. FDR thought that the "government must have some control over maximum hours, minimum wages." The word "must" to me indicates an obligation to the people that the government must help them using this law.
As the years passed, the wage increased more and more. And now the debate is on again - to raise it higher. To me, without a minimum wage, it would show that the government has no problem letting people in the lower class who can only work at certain places fall into poverty. Without a minimum wage, hard-working Americans would make no money after hours of strenuous work.
But some think that not having a minimum wage would be helpful. The theory is that when you raise the cost of employment, there is less incentive for businesses to hire.
What do you think about a raise in the minimum wage? Would it have a positive or negative effect on the people and our economy? Or do we even need a minimum wage?
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