"$16.50/hour would be min wage if it had kept pace with the rest of the economy"

[Trajan]

7. Wages wages wages ...

The loss of family income, especially in comparison to price increases over the last 3 decades, have done more to stifle the lifestyles of American families than any other factor ...

This diminishment of family wealth has continued to the point where most 'middle class' goals; Home ownership, college tuition for your children, retirement pensions, nice cars, clothes, vacations .... This stuff is pretty much out of reach of most families now ....

Unfortunately; With reduced demand for those goods and services; LESS economic activity has resulted in a stunted, stifled economy that seems to move forward glacially, and on the verge of sputtering out .... again ....

PAY workers for the value of their work, a decent wage, and the whole economy would lift across the board .... Yet the idiots on the right enforce their anti-worker philosophies to the point that it strangles economic activity by the middle class, who pay their bills before they buy college educations and nice cars and indulgent meals at the local brewpub ....