Let's look at the 15-dollar an hour minimum wage and why it is necessary to not only improve the economy but create a fairer and more just society. An hourly wage of $10.10 is not enough to lift all workers and their families out of poverty, especially for millions of low-wage workers who are underemployed. Most of these workers are not teenagers either, but major breadwinners for their families. One-third of the nation’s children would be lifted out of poverty. Millions around the nation and world (and myself) advocate for a higher wage to 15-dollars an hour nationwide, which turns today’s poverty wages into living wages. With 51 million workers getting a raise, raising the minimum wage would lift millions out of poverty, improve the general economy, lessen the burden for taxpayers, and have other social and equitable benefits towards a more just society.

You do not have to be an economist to understand why raising the minimum wage would benefit the economy. Raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour is actually especially appropriate for today. Adjusted for inflation and productivity gains, adjusted minimum wage should be 15 dollars an hour. In 1968, the minimum wage was about 10 dollars an hour in equivalency, however, productivity has also gone up two times that much since then, thanks to advanced technology. Workers since then have been taking homeless relative to how much they take home after producing considerably more today, while CEO’s and other elites take home more of the pie. This is not just, fair, or logical to run a smooth economy throughout all layers of society. So, adjusted for inflation and productivity gains the minimum wage should be at least 15-dollars an hour, a real living wage. Productivity will increase. Some theorists claim that a wage increase will come out of consumer costs and only increase general consumer prices, however, the wages would actually come out of profit because the majority of employers for low-wage workers are still in competition with others for customers, and raising their prices wouldn't help.

Raising the minimum wage benefits the economy at large. Though indeed some jobs would be harmed from a raise in the minimum wage to this level, much more would be benefited and millions of Americans would be lifted out of poverty. These people now earning a living wage would have more money in the pockets to spend on commodities they need, and will indeed spend that money on the local economy, benefiting these businesses in the long-run, and creating much more jobs than are created today. This had indeed already taken place in Seattle and other cities where the minimum wage has been increased to 15 dollars an hour. Alternet, Forbes Magazine, The Seattle Times have and other news sources have reported a positive kick to Settle’s economy, speaking of greater overall earnings for working-class people, and leading to more spending power and a better life for them.

Because millions of low-wage workers’ wages are so meager and cannot lift the out of poverty today at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, they need state and federal help in the form of food stamps, Medicaid, and other subsidization and social welfare programs, which all come out of tax payer pockets. So, the rest of Americans are subsidizing low-wage employees through our taxes. If the minimum wage was increased to 15 dollars an hour, not only would millions of low-wage workers be lifted out of poverty and start to live more decently on a material level to a higher standard of living, but other millions of Americans would be alleviated of the burden of subsidizing to keep these people alive, something that is not only their desire, but responsibility.

One cannot discuss the general economy in the United States without reaching into the conversations on racial inequality in the United States. The majority of low-wage workers in the US are indeed people of color, as is the majority of those impoverished. So, lifting millions of working-class people out of poverty by increasing the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour would save mostly people of color from poverty. Social justice is connected to economic justice, and in general, many theorists believe that lifting millions of people of color out of poverty who are already marginalized by societal racism would improve how society threats them. In Chicago, about 90 percent of 16 to 19-year-old black males are currently unemployed, and advocates for the 15-dollar and hour minimum wage are pushing towards a resolution to solve this crisis. The Center For Popular Democracy released a study that showed that with that wage increase, there would be over $600 million of new economic activity stimulating local economies and new economic activity, benefiting the economy and more-so people of color and creating more economic justice.

Let’s also talk about the criminal justice system, which is a part of the institutionalized racism in the country by convicting an unfair amount of people of color, who are also widely impoverished by today’s poverty wages. We are trying to advocate for a fairer criminal justice system, and a 15-dollar an hour minimum wage would be a step towards doing so.

People of color and others will have less incentive to commit a crime on a material basis. When a serious crime is committed like a break-in or robbery, usually it is done so because of the committer’s actual need for the wealth they seek better economic conditions. When workers are in poverty, there can be high levels of exasperation, aggression, confusion, and unease because life is just pulling them too hard, and has become too stressful, causing all kind of lash-outs on property and even other people. These people are hungry and need to feed their families. These people usually work at low wages and have hectic lives, and find more extreme methods of gaining materials as the easier or more appropriate rout. Lifting these people out of poverty would give them less incentive to commit crime because their lives would become more fruitful, easier, and more stable. The criminal justice system would become fairer if less overall workers ended up behind bars, but because it already gears towards people of color and others economically oppressed under low-wages, these people would make the most gains in this area from an increased minimum wage.

One can conclude that raising the minimum wage is not only logical for sustaining a smart and equitable economy, but is also frankly the right thing to do. At this point in our country's history 95 percent of monetary gains are going to the top one percent, and CEOs will be toasting 2014 with salaries 328 times that of average working people’s salaries. Meanwhile, people working at the current general minimum wage 40 hours a week doesn’t provide enough income to rent a two-bedroom apartment and manage other living expenses in any state in the nation. Let’s make vast economic gains, create a more equitable and just society, and empower the working class today!