Strive For Change Foundation

How to fix the economy: step one… raise the minimum wage to $15/hour

More money in people’s pockets means more demand for goods and services, which means more jobs not fewer jobs.

More people are brought into the pool of potential employees, giving employers more choice of whom to hire. This reduces turnover and helps employers save money.

Finally, employers who don’t pay enough to lift their employees out of poverty are indirectly subsidized by the rest of us – who are paying billions each year in food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, and welfare, to make up the difference.

Robert Reich: How to fix the economy — step No. 1 The former secretary of labor on the urgent need to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour VIDEO

there's nothing scary about increasing wages

Oakland Businesses Adapting to New Minimum Wage as Oakland Economy Booms | East Bay Express It’s been eight months since Oakland’s $12.25 minimum wage law took effect. So what has been the economic impact of higher wages on the city?...

The cheapest place in the San Francisco metropolitan area is Pittsburg, where the minimum hourly wage necessary for two earners is $18.14 (per earner), or $36.28 for a single earner.

Every Single Part of the Bay Area Is Unaffordable on $15/Hour Map via Zillow In the San Francisco metropolitan area, a household would need to make $126,480 per year to afford the median market-rate rental without spending more than 30 percent...

It is still acceptable, even popular, to ascribe moral weakness to people in poverty rather than to examine the economic and social structures that hold them there.

Despite Dr. King’s overestimation of progress in attitudes towards the poor, his core message remains relevant today: Only when we change a system that traps so many Americans in a struggle to meet their basic needs will we create an economy defined by opportunity and the chance for anyone to thrive.

Our Perceptions About the "Unworthy Poor" Haven't Changed - Talk Poverty It is still acceptable to ascribe moral weakness to people in poverty rather than to examine the economic and social structures that hold them there.

Chart on where poor black families in Oakland rank on the "double burden" of poverty.

Concentrated poverty is getting worse because poor people — especially poor African Americans — are increasingly left behind. There are a number of forces that drive this pattern, including systemic discrimination, policies that have historically concentrated public housing, and modern zoning laws that keep the poor out of wealthier communities.

Black poverty differs from white poverty And a radical idea for what to do about it.