WEST VA — When I came home from the military, I worked in a lumber mill for minimum wage. It was the hardest work I’ve ever done. [People’s] fears are the same unfounded fears that have never materialized any time minimum wage has been raised. If raising minimum wage to a living wage (which $15 is not) caused consumer prices to rise then at least we would have an honest look at what the true cost of things is. Right now because we don’t mandate a living wage we subsidize employers who pay below poverty wages by giving their employees SNAP benefits, Medicaid, and subsidized housing. You pay more than you think you do for your Big Mac now, but only part of what you pay is at the point of sale. The rest you pay to McDonalds through your taxes.

The really crappy part is that we shame and guilt the people who receive those benefits while saying nothing to the employers who exploit them. We try to legislate what they can buy at the grocery store and then post online about the person we saw buying steaks or shrimp with their snap card, but we never degrade their employers. It’s funny that the people you are saying have no work ethic are suddenly “Essential Workers” when you want your Big Mac.