The federal minimum wage has not risen since 2009, and is set at the insanely low rate of just $7.25/hour. As bad as that is, there are exceptions to even receiving that low sum as a minimum wage, of which, the most notable exception for such is for those that are in professions that are classified as “tipped employees,” such as restaurant servers. While, the first order of business in regards to the federal minimum wage is to see that wage be pushed up to something resembling a living wage, the second order of business is to have that Federal minimum wage, indexed to a yearly cost-of-living increase, akin to what those that receive Social Security benefits have been beneficiaries of since 1975.
What a Federal minimum wage represents to politicians and to legislators that somehow have failed to increase such since 2009 is absolutely baffling, because that minimum wage should represent on some level, a baseline for those that are employed that would enable these people to receive a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work, and thereby to have what would represent for them, a living wage. Instead, the Federal minimum wage is set so low, that there can’t be any respectable person in governance, that could state with a straight face, that $7.25/hour represents a living wage, because for a certainty, it doesn’t. While, one could argue that at least $7.25/hour represents a floor to how low salaries could conceivably go, that isn’t all that reassuring. Additionally, inflation is a fact of life in the modern world, and all those that work in which their wage is not indexed to inflation, or their wages do not keep pace or exceed the inflation rate, are effectively in a situation, in which, they are falling ever further behind.
The main reason why Social Security wages are indexed to the cost-of-living index, has an awful lot to do with the power of Senior citizens and their lobbying arms. Yet, no doubt, those receiving Social Security payments deserve to have those payments indexed to inflation, in fairness to them. So then, the fact that the Federal minimum wage seems to be effectively ignored in legislative offices, is highly disappointing, for it most definitely needs to be increased to something that reasonably resembles a living wage, in conjunction with the need to have that Federal minimum wage thereupon coupled with the cost-of-living index, of which, then, legislators really wouldn’t have a compelling need to address it any further.
Obviously, those that are making on or about the Federal minimum wage, are the very people that need the most help by their government, in order to have the necessary things so needed to live a decent life in this the richest nation that the world has ever known. The fact that those who so represent in body the weakest and most vulnerable amongst us, are effectively ignored and bypassed by their government, represents in action, that America prefers to exploit the poor for the benefit of the rich and connected, thereby signifying that in America, the awesome power of those that control the purse, always rules supreme.