I love how people bitch about the minimum wage increase idea. Usually the people against it have never known what true debt/burden feels like. These are the people that got the jobs they went to school for. Well good for you... you knew what you wanted out of college and got a decent job in your field. Most people don't have this luxury and are now stuck in a world where chasing any sort of dream is far off. It's hard to chase the stars when the systems in place have made sure I'm securely fastened to the ground under a mountain of expenses/debt.
The price tag on college makes it so one trip there will make sure you pay that for life. If you make the wrong choice for college and don't finish or finish with a degree that companies give 0 shits about then that's it. The fact that a lot of people have to work 50+ hours a week just to support themselves is beyond fucked. Just the base cost of living can put stress on the wallet. Let's add in all the things we need from week to week and the things we pay each month. Such things like the school loan, car loan, full coverage car insurance because you needed to take a loan for it, health insurance, water and electric, rent at the end of the month, by golly we haven't even gotten to the part where we need gas for that lovely car and HOLY SHIT we're humans so we need groceries so we can eat, and all this is if life is going well and good. We won't even get into the idea of what happens when you have medical bills. Or your car breaks down and needs repaired.
Fact is that most of our generation was forced to go to college which sent a lot of us into a debt that we shouldn't have to bear alone. The cost of education...wait... not just education but the cost of EVERYTHING has skyrocketed. Yet the one thing that helps us pay for all of it has NOT kept up with the times. But this is because we all just don't work hard enough right? We are all just lazy people that don't work hard for our dreams, right?!!? Fact is that not all of us want to be grand inventors, or engineers, or doctors, or CEOs. Some just want to enjoy the life we have been given on this earth. Why should the "smarter" more "distinguished" members of our working society be the only people that can enjoy life? Why should the grunt warehouse worker not make enough to enjoy life just because they aren't the distinguished TEAM LEAD, or the all powerful SUPERVISOR, or the ever important PLANT MANAGER. When in reality it's the grunts and peons of this world that make it fucking work at it's core. If we were all CEOs then nothing would function and anyone with this argument that you just need to move up the chain can kindly move along because you don't have a clue.
One of the bigger arguments against a wage increase I hear is that companies won't have the money to afford that. Oh really? You're telling me there isn't anywhere they can make cuts in their spending? Oh I don't know maybe let's say at the CEO level first and work our way down. It's no secret that CEOs and other higher up-the-chain members of corporations make WAY TOO MUCH MONEY. The whole idea behind raising the minimum wage starts at CEOs and their business partners actually giving a shit about the people that keep their company moving. But they rarely ever do so this is where the protests for wage increase come in. Because this will only happen when their hands are forced by the people for the people.
