It’s hard to get kids to play a game they perceive to have little or no hope of winning. Chances are they will be bored, disruptive, and may cheat out of frustration. Eventually, they will refuse to play at all. Even as an adult, how pointless it would be to join a game of Monopoly that has already started. All the properties have already been bought up and the $200.00 for passing “Go” doesn’t even get you halfway around the board. For far too many people working for minimum wage, this game scenario is their life. The effects are similar to the kid’s game, lack of self-worth and hopelessness leading to mental issues, disruption, drugs, and crime.

Not everyone has the drive, ability, opportunity for education, luck, or family to help them get a high-paying job, especially these days. But those who work 40 hours a week at a minimum-paying job should be able to afford the basics of food, clothing, medical care, and a place to live. These days, they are lucky to have food or shelter.

Food banks and charities are bandaids that don’t address the problem. Raising the minimum wage to a living wage is the only solution. Gradually increasing the minimum wage every year by twice the rate of inflation until it reaches a living wage would provide hope and relief to workers, and a foreseeable path for employers to adapt. Prices will increase, some businesses will fail, and consumer spending will change. Necessary pain to stop what is becoming “minimum wage slavery”.

As the number of people who have no money continues to grow, and the wage gap widens, instability for everyone increases.

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com