In 2025, the federal minimum wage is officially a “poverty wage.” The annual earnings of a single adult working full-time, year-round at $7.25 an hour now fall below the poverty threshold of $15,650 (established by the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines). The limitations of how the federal government calculates poverty understate how far the minimum wage is from economic security for workers and their families.

  • seeigel@feddit.org
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    19 hours ago

    It’s an analysis, not a solution. Where is the contempt? You can tell me where I am wrong but I haven’t said anything about how anybody should be treated.

          • seeigel@feddit.org
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            6 hours ago

            You must mean this:

            because they don’t have the mental capacity to organize themselves.

            Condescending, like the other thread says, I can see that. How can there be contempt for something that people cannot change. That would be stupid.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              Condescending, like the other thread says, I can see that. How can there be contempt for something that people cannot change.

              You see poor people and your first thought is how stupid they must be.

              • seeigel@feddit.org
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                4 hours ago

                Thank you.

                I wrote mental capacity because stress, irregular schedules, two jobs and all the other stuff drain energy and trap even clever people. Intelligence is only part of the problem.

                My point is that they are not stupid but helpless. Usually I argue that there shouldn’t be minimum wage and that people have to organize to earn more, but I can see that it makes sense for that group.

                Still, as we can see, relying on others is not sustainable. Minimum wage workers have to find a way to rise their wages on their own.

                  • seeigel@feddit.org
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                    4 hours ago

                    It’s the wrong side to tackle the problem.

                    Wages can be risen with an increased demand for workers. How? That is the relevant question that leads to the right answers. Minimum wage is a distraction.