Should the Minimum Wage Be Raised [POLL]

If you worked 40 hours a week making minimum wage, you would earn just over $15,000 a year. Try living on that, better yet try supporting a family. The issue came to light again this week as Assemblyman Sheldon Silver called on the public to demand wage increases, while his Republican counterparts refused to even bring the bill to the floor.

Opponents will tell you raising minimum wage will hurt small business and is a bad idea. Small business operators are forced to take a cut in their own pay, reduce workforce hours, or terminate employees. Those same people will tell you that the free market will handle unemployment and poverty issues and that bureaucracy shouldn't be involved. They also say that isn't the way a free society works, and that wages should be increased as productivity and profits increase.

Supporters of minimum wage increase will ask, when was the last time the free market profits trickled down to you? If that was the case Walmart workers would be rich. Raising the minimum wage allows families to spend more in the community at local businesses and allow them to rely less on government subsidies. In fact, they are also contributing more by paying taxes on their income. They are more likely to be happy, which increases productivity and decreases absenteeism and training and recruiting costs are also lowered. Most of all it is a reasonable step to end poverty and close the gap between the rich and the poor.