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May 10, 2007

Comments

Kay Dennison

I'm glad you understand what I said -- most people don't. The whole system is a farce! It isn't designed to get people out of the system -- it's designed to keep them there.

sahara

It ALL needs to increase. Why should you lose your benefits, simply because you get a raise? I know the perception still is, that you get married to a man with money who will take care of you. But the reality is, no one wants a poor girl, cause guys think you're a drain on them; and that's not your fault.

Update the values, and maybe the rest will follow. But then, look who's in charge.

Lauren Seemeyer

Thank you for your comment, Kay. Yes, there isn’t a simple, easy solution. Raising the minimum wage will make work pay better, but even $7.25 an hour isn’t enough to support a family. We need to make sure that programs designed to support poor families don’t penalize them just when they start to move ahead. In addition to the housing and food subsidies you mentioned, we’ve interviewed parents who had to turn down raises because it would put them over the income cutoff for child care assistance. And then there’s health care! We need to work on a lot of fronts—and make sure the tools we use to make families more economically secure work together.

Kay Dennison

This is a good idea. Unfortunately,
an increase in minimum wage would reduce that mother's Section 8 subsidy for her rent and reduce her food stamps so it wouldn't change a thing for her. Minimum wage was just increased in Ohio in January and that's what happened here. And the increase has cost some people their jobs in addition to pushing prices up. There are no easy solutions to this. What looks good on paper can have nasty ramifications.

naomi dagen bloom

Yes! found you through Women's Voices for Change...added link to my not-your-usual mom-day post.
thanks! yours, naomi

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