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Is the minimum wage fair? What a question to ask when the majority of Americans make minimum wage, or rather, barely above minimum wage. Who can survive on less than six dollars an hour? If we took away the minimum wage, more Americans would fall below the poverty level. Right now, employers have a standard to meet. Without that mandatory guideline, many employers would gladly pay their employees less money. We think the welfare statistics are high now, just see what would happen with no minimum wage to guide the corporate greed.

In searching out the greedy, the best place to start is with America's largest corporation-Wal-Mart. Even with a minimum wage, a good portion of Wal-Mart employees have to depend on welfare. In defending themselves, the giants at Wal-Mart claim they would have to raise prices if they raised wages. Why? The CEO and all of the Walton family pocket millions upon millions every year. Some of that money could easily be turned into higher wages for the employee who barely scrapes by every year. Raising prices would only be an option if the greedy got greedier.

Unfortunately, this is corporate America. It goes back to the trickle down theory of the Reagan years. Make the rich man richer and it will trickle down to the poor man. Instead, the poor got poorer. And presidents like the first George Bush claimed only high school dropouts and illegal immigrants are making minimum wage. The shame of it is that people believed him. Clinton did not have an easy task when he set forth to raise the minimum wage. To America's disgrace, in 2007, minimum wage still falls below $6.00 an hour. Anyone who loses a good-paying job is at risk of losing everything he/she owns if they have to settle for anywhere near the minimum wage level.

In effect, this becomes the problem. It's not whether or not the minimum wage is fair. It's the fact that the minimum wage falls far below the poverty level. Someone in America making $6.00 an hour is comparable to someone in Mexico making $2.00 an hour. They just can't make it. Oh, sure they can if they're a teenager still living at home. On the other hand, there's nothing to stop an employer from paying that same wage to a senior citizen. If you don't believe me, ask the sweet little old lady who greets you when you walk into Wal-Mart how much she makes. If she's lucky, she's only doing the job for a little extra income or just to get out of the house. Either way, she's not getting rich off being a door greeter.

While many Americans would love to have a job that makes them rich, most are just looking for a job that will pay the bills. Without minimum wage to provide a certain level of competition, the odds of finding a job that meets the bill paying criteria grows slim. Instead of debating on whether or not there should be a minimum wage, we should be debating on how high minimum wage should be!

Learn more about this author, Moira Bryant.
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