> But when I was a starving college student working for 75 cents an hour and Congress decided to raise my wage to a whole dollar an hour, I thought a minimum wage was wonderful. I know this sounds somwhat egocentic, but the point is that it depends on you situation.

Here's my favorite minimum wage story. A few years back, I was working at Staples, and the state changed the minimum wage from $6.25 to $6.75. I had been there for a few months and was making $7. Now, all the new hires making the minimum got a mandatory 50 cent raise. But those of us making just *above* the minimum did not get a raise. Because a minimum wage hike necessarily increases the cost of living, I ended up *poorer* than before. And let me tell you, that's not a fun feeling. :-}

> I don't know what the minimum is right now, but I wouldn't want to work very hard for that kind of money. Uuuuuuh, $5.30 maybe? That seemed to jump into my mind, but it may be way out of date.
> Howard

The federal minimum is $5.15. Not a lot, no. In Massachusetts it's $6.75. Still not an awful lot. But I've survived on minimum wage before, and without feeling like I was absolutely destitute, so I know it's possible.

The other thing to keep in mind is that people making minimum wage probably *aren't* working very hard. For the most part they're part-timers at places like grocery stores or fast food joints. That kind of work doesn't require a lot of training or experience and can be done by just about anyone. It makes sense, to me, that work like that isn't worth paying a whole lot for.