Let's Raise that Minimum Wage

Just a little FYI, friend to friend, sent to me by one of my fave dem's Robin:

So far, almost 90,000 people across the country have signed on as citizen co-sponsors to increase the minimum wage. Your name can put the number of Americans demanding a better minimum wage over 100,000 -- and 100,000 Americans demanding specific legislation is something that even the most out of touch Republican leaders cannot ignore.

If you sign on, we're that much closer to making it a full one hundred thousand:

Support the Fair Minimum Wage Act

Here are some facts:

* Someone on minimum wage earns just $10,700 a year. A single mom with two kids who works full-time for the minimum wage is about $6,000 below the poverty line.

* The minimum wage has been the same since 1997. Since then, Republican leaders have raised the salaries of Senators seven times. Salaries of lawmakers have gone up by $31,600 -- almost three times the entire yearly income of someone on minimum wage.

* The real value of the minimum wage is more than $3.00 below than it was a generation ago. To have the same purchasing power the minimum wage had 40 years ago, it would have to be $8.50 per hour.

* The minimum wage is the lowest it has been in over 50 years relative to the average wage.

* Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour would mean an additional $4,370 for a minimum-wage worker. That adds up to more than one year of groceries, over 9 months of rent, a year and a half of heat and electricity, or full tuition for a community college degree.

Support the Fair Minimum Wage Act

http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/fairwage/fugesb