A lot of things in life come from having money. Even though most people will say that money cant buy happiness, that is most definitely not true. Sure money can’t buy true love or a family (which is one of the points of the saying) but it can buy most any thing someone wants to create joy. Some people prefer to be by themselves and may have true joy in their passions. A painter can’t be happy without making money to buy paint and canvases.
Your income is solely based on your salary. Living in Oklahoma, the base salary is $7.25, matching the minimum wage set by the government. That gives about $15000 annually. At first to a younger person, that sounds like a lot of money, but to be honest it really covers nothing. Without scholarships, my school costs 25,000 a year. So basically I can work full time all year with no breaks and only cover 60% of my school. With nowhere to live and no food or gas, I would be out of money. Most people see this as a problem, and some counter by saying “If you’re earning that much money then you probably are working a job that SHOULD pay that much”. And yes I agree someone taking orders for McDonald’s shouldn’t make 30 dollars an hour, they should be able to survive.
Basically, I think there should be more than goes into the minimum wage. Whether its age, dependency, place of residence, something should create an ease between living wage and minimum wage. In Oklahoma the different is 9 dollars (Double the actual minimum wage). I would like to see government put more into fixing the disparity and creating a better living situation for people. With a one dollar gap between poverty and the working rate, surely people notice the poor conditions.