Originally Posted by
Matthias
Which is EXACTLY why the minimum wage is the problem. IF this single mom was just to try to live on a minimum wage, there is NO WAY she could do so without living in poverty. Having halfway adequate child care (especially when they are babies) is exceedingly expensive while she is working, and that alone would make it impossible to not live in poverty.
Not to mention, you don't seem to realize that "not being on welfare" doesn't mean the mom can't or won't qualify for all sorts of other state services, like food stamps or help with utilities, services that she will realistically need if her and her children are to not live in poverty.
$10 an hour isn't the national minimum wage, so not sure why you are using that. In some places, it may be, but the cost of living is also a lot higher often enough. Unless you are arguing the minimum wage should be increased... which is exactly what it seems to be you are arguing with this logic. The current minimum wage is 7.25.
The single mom WILL be living in poverty on those wages, which also means her children will be, and all the negative things that happens as a result of that. The solution is not lowering welfare, it is increasing the minimum wage. If a minimum wage job pays substantially better than welfare so you aren't going to live in desperate poverty, then that makes a lot more sense to take the job. Minimum wage jobs ARE subsidized by the government at that rate, where the person can't even properly care for themselves, much less their children.
If your solution is to get rid of welfare and keep poverty wages, all you'll have are a whole lot more people living in poverty, which besdies being morally disgusting, is incredibly damaging to our society, extremely ineffecient etc. etc. Higher minimum wages are the solution if you want incentives to get off of welfare, though of course the much bigger issue is ending extreme, concentrated, cyclical poverty, which nobody is addressing right now in Washington or even mentioning, as though it were a natural occurance that can't be dealt with. The reality is that we created the concentrated poverty we have now, historical facts show that to be true. Federally/state/locally mandated segregation/discrimination of the past and entrenched power today means we live in a society that perpetuates unequal opportunities that keeps poverty around and cyclical.