Moment of Truth

The House of Representatives is presently considering a vote to raise the national minimum wage. Do you know what today's federal minimum wage is? Take a guess. Five dollars and fifteen cents per hour (I wrote it out so that you could truly take a guess without the number immediately jumping out at you - sneaky). Do some quick math, and that equates to $10,712 per year gross pay - and that's a full 52 weeks of 40 hour work week - no vacation. Now I know that costs of living vary depending on the area of the country you live in, but unless you are the Unibomber living in a shack in the woods of Montana, $10,000 a year can't get you shit in the United States.

So my question is, what is there for the House to "consider" ? And let me be clear - they are not considering whether to raise it, they are considering whether to allow a vote to decide whether to raise it. In other words, they may decide to just not vote on it at all. In the interest of full disclosure, some states do now require a higher minimum wage, but the federal minimum wage has not been increased since 1997. At average 3% a year inflation over those past 9 years, cost of living has increased dramatically while wages have stayed the same. Make sense? NO.

And there are some Republicans who would still vote no on the raise. Are there Republicans who believe that $10,712 per year gross and no vacation is a fair way to live in the richest country in the world? Are there Republicans who believe in poverty? Really? Here is their moment of truth. If any of these people govern or represent your state (read: southern and midwest states) then I encourage you to vote very carefully in November - even if you make more than minimum wage, do you want someone like that to govern you?