Tolerate By Calle 13 (13th Street): Song Analysis

Many Americans work solely to pay for food, electricity, and housing. In response to this “nearly 30 states have raised their minimum wage to combat job loss, poverty, and economic inflation.” (http://www.pewresearch.org). This just goes to show that more than two thirds of the country are willing to raise their wages, because the local government thinks that it is absolutely necessary in order to allow people to live sustainably. States such as California have raised their wages up to as high as $15.00! Raising the minimum wage has helped many people begin to start to live healthy lives, and it provides a way for families to expend for necessities if they work at or near minimum wage,

The theme of 123rd Street rap is one that can't be compared to any other poem. The reason for this is that it has such a deep reality to it and it is only a poem. One good reason to love this poem is it show someone to appreciate the life that one has and to not take what you have for granted. The line “Automatic bullets bounce off stoop steps”(Perdomo 2) should make anyone who doesn't live this everyday reality appreciate the life that they live. The poet saw the life that people have to live and put it into words and makes you understand in just a few lines.

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

A full time worker earning $7.25 an hour will make approximately $15,080 a year (“Minimum Wage”). That’s barely more than what students pay for housing and food at some colleges, and we expect a family to live off of this? The poverty line is at $20,000 for a family of four, so how are these people supposed to raise their children in a healthy environment while working full-time to not even be on the poverty line? If this raise is done correctly, employment and prices won’t be hurt, and we will only be helping our nation’s hardest workers. “Katrina Gill is a certified nursing aide. She monitors 28 patients from 10:30pm to 7am, checking vitals, preventing bedsores, and changing diapers. She makes $14,400 a year with no benefits. She currently has $160,000 worth of medical debt from her son’s cancer care” (Conlin). “Joseph Schiraldi guards the Empire State Building, one of the biggest terrorist targets in the world, for eight hours every-single day. He makes $7.50 an hour in the nation’s most expensive city with no pension, no health care, and no sick days” (Conlin). How is it fair that hard-workers are forced to live below poverty, when raising the federal minimum wage would not have any major negative effects on our economy? Although some people believe that it is unnecessary to raise the federal minimum wage, while looking at the facts it is necessary to realize the benefits it would bring.

Texas workers that get paid minimum wage are outraged about how they can’t afford a car, a home, and other things because of how little they are paid. Workers that get paid very little have to struggle to get the things they need. Some people work two or more jobs just to pay rent or catch up on payments they are behind on. $10 period is a perfect amount for someone to live off of and get the necessities they need to survive. Everyone enjoys having money, not struggling. Homes get foreclosed, cars are towed, and lives are ruined because people get fired from their jobs and are forced to move down to a minimum wage job. If minimum wage were raised, people wouldn’t be suffering as badly.

As most of you know, life is hard, actually extremely hard. As people of America each and every one of us has some sort of image of what we view “the American dream” as. One of which, is the amount of minimum wage that a person at McDonalds or even Kroger is making. This is a subject that has most Americans have been on edge about. Currently, our minimum wage is 7.25$. In the eyes of a newly employed sixteen year old having the opportunity to make his or her own money is greater than making no money at all. The sixteen year old is a newly worker, any money that is handed to

To begin with, the minimum wage should be raised at least above 8.50 an hour. According to The US Department of Health, the current poverty level is 17,000 a year, which is about 8.50 an hour (Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism). The current minimum wage is 7.25 an hour, a full dollar and a quarter less than the current poverty level. With this, the average American is not able to afford the basic living standards that America herself has set. The need for a work force has been on the decline in America with cheaper sources of labor being created. Ironically, the unemployment payment an American can receive is in some

In the United States alone, the amount of people in poverty is 14.5%. That equates to 45.3 million people in 2013. In a country like America, one of the world’s superpowers, it’s embarrassing to admit. But the main issue is to fix issues like these with the minimum wage and welfare. The minimum wage applies to workers who got a job whether because they were in school or because they had not gone to college and had no other option. Most of the country lives off as minimum wage workers as only 1% of the world’s population has a college degree. Minimum wage needs to be adjusted to modern inflation. But the minimum wage allegedly does not affect poverty at all says a large demographic and does not need to be adjusted. The minimum wage makes up a lot of the country and should be adjusted or modified to today’s standard of living.

People all across America believe that minimum wage is a good thing and helps people without an education have a normal life, however others believe it is causing poverty and homelessness among the citizens. Minimum wage was made to provide enough money to live just above the national poverty line.But over the years the cost of living has increased while the minimum wage hasn’t. Today, the national minimum wage is $7.25, which is less powerful than the minimum wage was in 1968. This is because the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour, which seems low but back then $1.60 was enough to support a three person family, whereas today the minimum wage can barely support one person. All throughout  the U.S., workers have been fighting for a higher minimum

Money. Money is how we are able to eat and drink. It is how we stay clothed in different climates. Money is how we have a roof over our head. Money is what we earn from jobs and then, in turn, we recycle it back into the economy. A salary is how we get from point A to point B quickly and efficiently. Money is in a constant cycle of being in one person’s hands, going to someone else’s hands, and one way or another, coming back to the first person. Almost everything in this world can be boiled down to money. And in America, when you are employed, there is a minimal amount of money someone must pay you for your employment. This minimum wage is the base pay rate any American can earn. The minimum wage in America is supportive of the economy

When you see fully capable men or women asking for handouts or taking advantage of others accomplishments, it triggers frustration and anger but you can still go about with your daily life. When you see your favorite restaurants or establishments closed because they cannot up keep their workers’ wages that the state induced, now it becomes infuriating. Society tend to better their lives through trade skills, years of education, personal development, perseverance, and hard work in order to reach success. The moment we adopt new laws in order to meet the demands that minimum wage is not sufficient, is when we start seeing the economic collapse that will take tenfold the time to repair than it did to create. Adopting these new laws will influence

There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the

Low minimum wages affects everyday families and lives, more than the average person would think. A small minimum wage could have an very small effect on someone’s life, such as not being able to afford a new pair of boots or that new phone, contradictory to this low wages could also have a very serious effect on someone’s life . Meaning that a parent or single individual could not support their family because a lack of income, it could also mean the difference of living under a safe roof, or living in the streets. In 2016 alone, 40.6 million people in the United States

Today we live in a society that tells us what and when we can do it, with the complex of living in the United States which is supposed to be the land of the free. The cost of living now these days have put those who only make minimum wage in poverty stricken situations, which now they have no choice but to depend on the government to live. We either have to lower the cost of living so that people can live a somewhat sustainable life, or raise the minimum wage so that we can afford the cost of living that is provided to us.

Those living in the United States of America are experiencing some economically dark times. Unemployment is becoming increasingly worse. Social programs are failing. Prices everywhere are on the rise as wages are declining drastically. Class division has never been more distinct. Of those lucky enough to have secured the multiple jobs needed in order to maintain their subsistent existences, most make only a minimum wage, established by their state’s laws, which is then harshly taxed upon. Life is hard enough in our dying superpower of a nation, but even worse for the work force of America that must survive on minimum wage. It is an offending disappointment that our fellow countrymen and women must live the way they do. This raises a