I do not understand what all the "hype" is about with a raise in the "minimum wage". Congress adds a few more cents onto the "minimum wage" and people literally jump up and down for joy, why is this? Currently the "minimum wage" within New York State alone is $7.15 an hour. The Federal minimum wage is currently $5.85 an hour with going to $6.55 an hour in the summer of 2008 then upward to $7.25 an hour in the summer of 2009, this is due to the approval of Congress in raising the Federal minimum wage in a three step process as demonstrated above.

A single person can not survive off minimum wage, much less families. Let's not forget taxes which are taken out of the paychecks as well, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) does not care that people are poor and barely making ends meet, they want their tax money! Hourly workers work long and strenuous hours which usually includes "overtime" only to be raked over the coals again with taxes, after the "cut" from "State taxes", "Federal Taxes" and "Company Insurance", workers tend to see the reality of working "overtime" is not always worth it.

Most citizens who earn the "minimum wage" have to rely on our "Welfare System" to make ends meet. Programs such as "Medicaid", "Food Stamps" and aid with "Child Care", therefore making the system a neverending cycle of dependence. With these facts, please excuse me if I'm not jumping for joy with this pay hike which is ongoing through Congress. I do not earn "minimum wage", I earn more than minimum wage, therefore, one would ask, why am I griping? Think about it, who do you think is funding the programs such as "Medicaid", "Food Stamps" as well as "Child Care Aid"? It's everyone else's hard earned money which is taken from our paychecks.

I feel that our nation as a whole wants people dependent on the system. This is largely due to tax dollars which accumulate from each and every paycheck. Where the "minimum wage" workers are not earning much of a paycheck, they are still paying taxes and I feel our government views this overall as a good situation for our country, where these unskilled workers would not be working ordinarily, they are lured into believing they are earning a decent wage, and creating a flow of tax dollars, the tax flow of dollars from their paychecks isn't very significant but the millions of other "minimum wage" workers tax dollars combined is significant.

Our system does nothing more than enable the citizens of our country. Our country does not offer true incentives to "minimum wage" workers or welfare recipients. Most counties within New York State claim to be "Welfare To Work" counties, hence encouraging those that do not want to work to file for other tax funded programs such as SSI (Social Security Insurance), it's truly ridiculous of all the loop holes which exist within our current system.

Why can't our country demand that companies pay decent wages? How can the states as well as our Federal Government get away with paying unskilled workers such low wages? The poor within our country need more than a couple of dollars added to the minimum wage. The poor needs programs which would enable them to get better jobs, such as educational incentives, training programs as well as more affordable healthcare. The HMOs within the United States are typically too expensive. With Corporations such as "Wal-Mart", over half of their "hourly-employees" do not even have health-care insurance, it's pure lunacy! If our nation would crack down on the huge corporations who rip off their workers in this manner, I feel in time, things would even out. Corporations within our country have a moral obligation as well as a responsibility to the community in which they are performing their business within to take care of their workers with offering affordable insurance's, this would in time relieve our "Medicaid" system.

Please excuse me if I am not "thrilled" to view this pay hike with the "minimum wage", for I do not view this as a joyous occasion. I view this as more of an incentive for the poor to remain poor as well as the huge corporations within our nation to keep skimming off their books while paying their CEO's huge salaries. Our nation was built upon unskilled laborer's, it's truly a shame when the "backbone" of our country is exploited as well as encouraged to remain poor, what's even more shameful is that the unskilled laborer's who earn the minimum wage are not educated enough to realize they are being exploited.

"Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor" Sholom Aleichem