$10/Hour

[Content Note: Class warfare; food insecurity.]

This morning, I noted that there is currently a federal proposal being considered to raise the federal minimum wage to $10/hour. I just read the following in a New York Times article about the cut to food stamps that went into effect at the first of the month:

To poor families trying to stretch a couple hundred dollars into a month's worth of groceries, all the talk about stimulus packages, farm subsidies and congressional politics means little. It is all about daily survival at the grocery store.

"We'll be on our last $3 at the end of the month," said Rafaela Rivera, 34, a home health aide who earns $10 an hour.

Ms. Rivera's family of four saw their food stamps reduced by $36, to $420 a month. They pay rent and other expenses using her income and her husband's disability check, and they supplement food stamps with bags of fresh vegetables, chicken and other groceries from a food pantry.

"It's going to be hard," she said. "Our last week is going to be tight tight."

Emphasis mine.

The White House believes that raising the minimum wage in two years to $10/hour will mean "hard-working Americans can have a decent wage for a day's work to support their families and make ends meet." This is an utter fantasy.

People who make $10/hour still need food stamps and charity to survive. And they are just barely surviving.

In no way does that constitute a "decent wage."

I frequently point out that Republicans think people aren't entitled to food, but, the truth is, Democrats don't really think so, either. Not really.

Neither of our national parties are invested in making sure that every person in the richest country in the planet's history have their basic needs met.