Yeah. I actually was reading this thing about living costs and such. I grew up in a house on 20 acres in an area that was technically 90% in poverty. But also like everyone had 20 acres and a boat. Living costs vary a lot place to place.

It costs less to live in the country, and while you could just get a skilled labor job like HVAC, people who work in technology or economics or research or science almost exclusively have to live in cities or have hours long commutes.

The value of minimum wage in 1968 at $1.60 based on the purchasing power on average of today's money is about $12/hr. The cost of a new car, for example, could be paid with less than a year of savings at $1.60 for the average car cost of $2800. About 10 months of work you have a new car. About 12 you can afford a home. And that doesnt account for productivity increases. If the minimum wage in 1968 had kept up with labor's productivity growth, it would have reached $19.33 in 2017.

Today federal minimum wage of $7.25 will give you $15,080 before tax if you work 52 consecutive 40 hour weeks. A new car costs about 36,000 and new homes were on avg about 330k, or more than 20 years of work at that wage. Even median rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is $1078 a month or $12,936 per year. So the minimum wage 1 job worker has 2000 for all their food and utilities and everything for the year? And you want that level of disenfranchisement to work harder for you? Nah just pay better.