LOL I make 14 an hour and consider myself doing pretty well. My roommate is making 10.50. We live in a 3 bd duplex and I grow in the spare and basement. Nothing big just enough for us and a couple friends, so no big profits from that and we only just got our 1st harvest at this place. Yeah we weren't eating steak every night but we did fine.
and maybe you don't think it was meant to be a living wage but the president who saw it into action did so I think his opinion kinda trumps yours don't you think?
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/f-d-r-makes-the-case-for-the-minimum-wage/?_r=0
FDR didn't think it should be a living wage, but a decent living wage.
“By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of a decent living.” FDR from your own link
So not just a car, but a new car, and an average sized home(2600 sq ft), vacations each year, a college education AND Good health insurance (How much does yours cost and how good is it?) That would be a decent living right?
If your roommate stops paying rent, you have no problem making the mortgage payment right?
So you have a $190,000 house, a $32,000 car. (those are the averages) Just those alone on a 30 yr mortgage at 4% interest is about $900 a month, and a really long 6 year loan for the new car at 2% interest would be a monthly payment of $472, figure in food and restaurants $300 a month. Utilities another $300, health insurance another $200 a month. Home and auto insurance another $150 a month. So thats like $2320 a month and you haven't even bought furniture or even have a cell phone. A decent living right?
So a person working 40 hours a week at min wage takes home about $240 a week. Lets see 240x4 = $960. Whoops, looks like FDR's idea really sucks ass, you can barely make the mortgage payment, and thats not even including property tax. Sorry, you have to either share a crappy 1 room apartment in a crowded and unsafe neighborhood, or buy a used car and forgo eating out or having cable TV or going on vacations to Europe like people who make a decent living do.
Only By the Grace of doG do people making minimum wage even survive, let alone more than a bare subsistence level. If it wasn't for the charity of others and black markets,these people would not survive.
Min wage is not a living wage, that's why it is rarely defined as such.