>>If the minimum wage isn't supposed to be a livable wage - then what exactly is it's purpose? I believe that ANY full time job should at least allow you to pay rent and eat food.
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>>Purpose? one word - incentive.
>
>My take on minimum wage is this: If a full time employee still has to consume government assistance to meet their living needs then their employer is profiting off of taxpayers. McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc. with their droves of minimum wage employees are essentially being subsidized by taxpayers. Let the cost of their product assume the role of providing the living wage to their employees rather than increasing the burden on taxpayers.

We have the same issue here with profitable businesses being able to pay low rates as the government subsidise their workers.

I'd love to see figures broken down by company of how much government assistance their workforce gets maybe mapped against dividends paid to shareholders , profits tec.