I was married in 1972 . I remember looking at a VW bug and thinking , the two of us together , working 40 hour weeks , combining our income , and using none of it for anything else , couldn't afford the $1,800.00 to buy that car . NO way , were even the two of us combined earning $34,000 , by 1977 . I keep seeing these made up statistics , that simply aren't true , to provide excuses , for why you're don't have enough income . When there is a huge shift in the lowest wages , the next couple of wage levels , suddenly find themselves at a level they had thought they had worked their way out of , the bottom of the heap again . And the prices on everything , will jump , more than the wages were increased . Clinton put a freeze on all government wages for several years . When he decided the government's budget was in order and we could begin to get COLAs again , the first day at work , and all the prices on everything had gone up , starting at the soda machine . Someone had put a note on the machine , it's only a 10% increase . and someone else had added , yeah , but we only got a 3% raise . Landlords who had been putting off rent increases , felt they could now increase rent to what they felt they should have been charging all along , groceries went up , gas went up , clothing went up , utilities went up , and none of them only went up 3% . An across the board wage increase for the minimum workers , will put them in a worse place than they already are . Think of this . When you were just a kid , how much did your favorite candy bar cost and how much does it ost now ? The concept you need to keep in mind , is that the value of money changes . The more money people across the board get paid , the less value money has . Check with your parents . Ask them how much they paid for their house and compare that to how much it would sell for today . Then also look at how much they were earning when they bought it , and compare that to how much they earn now .

My kids are millenials. they're awesome. And yes, they're going to have a much rougher time than other generations unless we get this shit straightened out.