What a Living Wage Really Means — and Why They Don’t Want You to Have One

 

 

You ever wonder why no matter how hard you work, it still feels like you’re barely keeping your head above water? You work full-time. Maybe more than full-time. You do everything right — but when the bills are paid, there’s nothing left.

 

That’s not your fault. That’s the system working exactly as it was designed.

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Work Has Lost Its Value

 

The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour — the same price as a 6-pack of name brand toilet paper. The last time it was changed was in 2009. If it had kept pace with inflation and productivity, it would be over $25 an hour today. Instead, wages stayed flat while prices skyrocketed.

 

Rent. Groceries. Gas. Healthcare.
Everything costs more — except your labor.

 

Meanwhile, corporations are posting record profits and CEOs are taking home record bonuses. They tell us they can’t afford to pay higher wages — but somehow, they can afford private jets, stock buybacks, and luxury retreats.

 

Let’s call that what it is: a lie.

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A Living Wage Isn’t Luxury — It’s Survival

 

A living wage means being able to live. Not lavishly — just live.
To afford rent, groceries, and basic healthcare without working yourself into exhaustion or needing government assistance just to survive.

 

According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, the average single adult in the U.S. now needs about $18–$20 an hour to cover the basics.
Add a child, and that number jumps to $30 or more in most states.

 

So when politicians say $15 an hour is “too much,” what they’re really saying is: you don’t deserve to survive.

The Fear Tactics — and the Truth

 

Every time there’s a push to raise the minimum wage, we hear the same recycled excuses:

 

• “Businesses can’t afford it.”

• “Prices will skyrocket.”

• “We’ll lose jobs.”

 

But study after study — from places like UC Berkeley and the Economic Policy Institute — shows those claims just aren’t true.

 

Prices rise minimally (less than one percent in most industries), and job loss? Virtually none. In fact, higher wages reduce turnover, boost productivity, and strengthen local economies.

 

If a business model only survives by paying poverty wages, then the business model is broken — not the worker.

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Who Benefits From Keeping Wages Low

 

There’s a reason billion-dollar corporations fight against living wages.
Low pay keeps people desperate — and desperation keeps people quiet.

 

When you’re overworked and underpaid, you don’t have the time or energy to organize, strike, or vote for change. And that’s exactly how they want it.

 

They raise prices and blame inflation on the workers just asking for enough to live on. They hoard record profits while telling you to “tighten your belt.”

 

This isn’t mismanagement — it’s manipulation.

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What We Could Have Instead

 

We can change this.

 

We can raise the federal minimum wage to $20 an hour, and tie it to inflation so it never stagnates again.

 

We can support small businesses through tax credits while holding mega-corporations accountable.

 

We can stop allowing companies to pay wages so low their workers qualify for food stamps — because right now, taxpayers are subsidizing corporate greed.

 

If corporations paid fair wages, that burden wouldn’t fall on the rest of us.

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This Is About Dignity

 

The cost-of-living crisis isn’t just about money. It’s about dignity.
No one working full-time should live in poverty. No one should have to choose between rent and groceries or skip medicine to keep the lights on.

 

A living wage isn’t radical — it’s common sense. It’s long overdue.

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Why I’m Running

 

I know what it’s like to work hard and still struggle to make ends meet — because I’ve lived it.
I’ve been laid off. I’ve been homeless. I’ve seen what happens when the system forgets the people who actually make it run.

 

That’s why I’m running for Congress. Because we deserve leaders who know what it’s like — who’ve lived this life, not just talked about it in speeches.

 

I’m running to fight for a living wage, to make sure work means stability again, and to remind the powerful who this country really belongs to: the people who build it, staff it, feed it, and keep it moving every single day.

 

We built this country — it’s time our paychecks reflected that truth.

 

Raise the wage.
Make it living.
Make it fair.

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