The meme:
Now my commentary:
Note that the $5676 is before taxes. So if you add taxes to that, then rent becomes about 50% of the income. The state impacts this that the person is living in.
Also, note that raising min-wage for you means raising it for the staff that maintains your apartment and the staff at the utility companies, the grocers, the delivery staff, etc. This means that all cost of living goes up to pay the higher wages.
It will cost more to bring in your groceries, bring in the gas for your car, and upkeep the apartment you are renting.
After the min wage increase, based on the events above, you will be able to afford less and have a higher chance of being laid off from your job when your employer cannot afford to pay you from business loss.
The real solution is to kill all taxes and remove all regulations from people providing housing competition.
Competition always brings down prices.
The proof is in the foodservice industry. Who makes more money per day, the high volume moderate-quality fast food joint, or the high-quality, expensive restaurants? Each year, the number of restaurant closures points out the answer every year, and every year people ignore that answer.
This is also why our data plans for the internet are so expensive. Most cities only allow one major cable or fiber owner into a city. All providers are reselling that one data service. That is a monopoly with a thin veneer of the appearance of a free-market.
Why are cell data plans so expensive? More anti-trust activities, as controlled by the FCC. FCC limits cell towers in a region, creating a de facto monopoly or duopoly. All other services sold in that region must resell the tower’s services of the non-competitive owners.
One cannot have a monopoly or duopoly without the threat of violence. In the long past, armed thugs or blatant armed tax collectors for the crown were enforcing the collections. These days extra steps have been added called regulatory industry, which then sends their lawyers first. They will contract with law enforcement, all to violate your voluntary interaction with a business or individual of your choice.
The solution isn’t minimum wage; it is the removal of government from business and a well-armed citizenry.
Brian By Experience 