Minimum wage

In a delicious turn of terrible-for-us events, a website created by McDonald’s to help its employees create a monthly budget may have just become the prime example of how difficult it is to live off a minimum wage paycheck. Step #1: Get a second full-time minimum wage job. Seriously.

The economy added 190,000 jobs in June. According to Think Progress, many of these jobs are in the low wage service sector, aka McDonalds and Wal-Mart. Do the job numbers create a better American life when they don't even come with a decent livable wage?

A new study by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) finds that if the minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour it would be enough to pull nearly six million Americans out of poverty.

While the man who coined the "Two Americas" term left politics in disgrace, that message has never been more important or apparent than in the debate over raising the minimum wage. After adjusting for inflation, minimum wage workers earn 25-percent less than they did 45 years ago—despite upper-echelon employers raking in a bigger slice of the pie than ever before.

Despite the scare tactics from congressional Republicans, the 2007 minimum wage hike did not harm the economy. Study after study has shown that raising the minimum wage has not, on net, cost workers their jobs.

During his State of the Union address, President Obama unexpectedly called for a hike in the minimum wage to $9.25 an hour, and Congressional Democrats are calling for an even higher hike to $10.10.

Increasing the minimum wage is as no-brainer of a policy as it can get. One, it is extremely popular with the public. Two, it would impact millions of workers—more than 30 million workers would receive a raise if the minimum wage was increased.

A minimum wage increase is enjoying broad support across the board among voters. Democrats are currently championing the cause and are in position for a major political victory if the legislation passes. Interestingly, research shows that voter turnout dramatically increases when the minimum wage is part of a ballot initiative.