McDonalds tells employees to enroll in Food Stamps...

The Minimum Wage has increased from $5.15 to $7.25 in the last 6 years --- That's 40% in a period of almost zero inflation and zero job growth. How much is enough?


The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 is the current federal minimum wage law of the United States. It was signed into law on April 25, 2009 as a rider to the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. The act implemented three increases to the federal minimum wage—from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 per hour on July 24, 2007, to $6.55 per hour on July 24, 2008, and to $7.25 an hour on July 24, 2009.[60]

If the average McDonald's gave their employees a $2 an hour raise it would wipe out all the profit for the restaurant. Or they could raise the price of their food by about 25%. McDonald's food is not worth $7-8 for a meal. I don't think it's worth $5-6 that it currently is and the few times I go there I always order off the $1 menu. Good look trying to get customers to pay $8 for a Big Mac meal, especially in this shitty Obama economy.

The minimum wage was $1.60 per-hour in 1968. Simply adjusting that number for inflation to 2012 dollars means the minimum wage would have to be $10.55 per-hour to equal that $1.60 back in 1968. Given I am using 2012 numbers and we are getting close to 2014 I suspect that number now is around $11 an hour to simply equal what minimum wage was in 1968.

Shouldn't someone making minimum wage in 2013 live better than someone making minimum wage in 1968? Overall personal Income growth was 100.6% in that same time frame. So if you would adjust minimum wage for inflation and income growth the minimum wage as of 2012 should be $21.16 an hour.

The cost of a Big Mac in 1968 was 49 cents. So having a low minimum wage certainly hasn't held down the cost of our fast food, but it has increased the costs of the social safety net.

The problem with wages is not the amount of money that people are paid, it is in how people spend their money that is the real problem.

I got a good laugh out of Forkie's graphs. In order to do a valid comparison one would have to compare only numbers from the US. The market place has exploded globally over the last decade or two. Of course, no one really expected Forkie to present an honest assessment so I guess we all understand.

Yeah, no one expected the Federal Reserve Bank to present an honest assessment, so I guess we all understand: