this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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Is Fox news unironically the best place to learn about your new favorite social dem?

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[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah it just sounds ridiculously high in low cost of living areas where Fox’s faithful all live.

They really do hear this as “look at this outrageous tax on small business owners” instead of “oh look a living minimum wage - that would be good for Timmy when he graduates high school next year.”

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure, that's how we got here, but that's not even true anymore. The most destitute and depressed regions still have a higher cost of living than the minimum wage would provide.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

It’s true that the minimum wage is a not a living wage. I don’t know when it ever was.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)
[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

FDR may have tried to frame it that way in 1938 but 25 cents an hour was not a living wage then, either. Not really:

As others have rightly pointed out, the twenty-five-cent minimum wage passed at the time only amounted to the equivalent of a $4.54 per hour minimum wage is 2019 dollars. This wage is enough to avoid starvation but would obviously fall short of the kind of lifestyle proponents of a $15 per hour minimum wage advocate for today.

Source

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

Fair point. Politicians have always been shitty.

But also, inflation is only relevant to purchasing power, and does not represent the entire increase to the cost of living. Suvival itself has become more expensive because of new expenses that didn't exist in 1938. More young adults carry a significant debt cost from education, healthcare expenses, home purchases, car purchases, and general debt. Credit was harder to come by, and was structured to avoid long-term repayments. There are also transportation costs, heating and cooling utility costs, internet, cell service, not to mention the cost of food. Fewer people grow their own food, and you cannot survive a Mid-Atlantic summer without air-conditioning.

$4.50 an hour might have been a poverty wage in 1938, but it would represent destitution today.