Currently, our federal minimum wage is a meager 7.25 per hour. In 1955, it was 1.00 per hour. It seems like a huge income increase, but, unfortunately, when CPI inflation is calculated in, our 7.25 has the same buying power as 0.83 in 1955. Our minimum wage has essentially decreased when factored in for inflation. Since 1955, the cost of living has steadily gone up, the price of things has increased (in some cases, in others, the price has stayed relatively the same, factoring for inflation) while minimum wage has actually decreased in value. Our minimum wage has steadily gone down in value over the years, having spikes of increase here and there (the most noticeable increase during WWII, where the value of minimum wage sharply rose) but mostly, it has declined, especially so in recent years. As time passes, and minimum wage stays the same, its dreadful to think about how much things cost then compared to now. data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=15%2C874&year1=2014&year2=1955 This is the average annual cost of living for a single person in my county, adjusted for inflation to 1955 values. The median income in 1955 was some 3,800 dollars, roughly. Which, if you look at the above table, is well over double the current cost of living. Median income now is right around 20% more than what it used to be, although, you have to keep in mind that the income distribution in this country has drastically changed since then, so the top earners in this country are taking home a larger portion of that median than the bottom 60% are. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Aggregate_income_distribution If you read this, I hope you share it, so that, hopefully, it opens some eyes to the vast income disparity which exists in this country, and how far weve allowed our standard of living to decrease.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:34:27 +0000
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