Rick Allen: “hard work and perseverance are supposed to be the key to success in America; yet many people who work full time are…”

“hard work and perseverance are supposed to be the key to success in America; yet many people who work full time are barely scraping by, earning just $10,712 per year on the Federal minimum wage, which is now $5.15 an hour and has been at that level for nearly 10 years. That is an income, $10,700, that is $6,000 below the Federal poverty line for a family of three. That number cheats millions of American families and children out of the chance for basic financial stability every year. It directly contradicts what we often describe as the promise of America, that if you work hard and play by the rules, you have a reasonable chance for a life of some prosperity. Families are struggling because the buying power of the minimum wage is now at its lowest level in the last 50 years, the last 50 years. But if you look at the changes that families are undergoing just in the last 10 years, here is what you find. Americans pay 136 percent more to heat their homes and drive their cars than they did 10 years ago when the last minimum wage increase was passed. Health insurance costs have gone up 97 percent during that same period. The cost of a 4-year public university has gone up 77 percent as well. Families who once lived comfortably on their incomes have been steadily falling out of the middle class and into poverty.…”