I'll start out by prefacing this with "I've never had to live in the real world", by that I mean, I went university more than 30 years ago, in Ontario, so I graduated with no student debt and started a job 2 weeks after I finished school, making more than my mother and almost as much as my father. (I choose to get a computer science degree rather than a basket weaving degree - so, there's that). By the end of my first full year of working, I wasn't short on cash, but couldn't account for a fair chunk of disposable income, and I started paying more attention to where the dollars were going. Still wasn't super smart, but at least was saving......I've never been out of work, or had a spouse out of work, I live in Canada, so I have 'free' health care (I put it in quotes, because I'm taxed pretty heavily).....
I know I don't want to live on minimum wage, but I also know we live in a free market economy. If we force higher minimum wages, companies just get better and better at automating low skill work. Think about it, 30 years ago, you had to pay for the privilege of on-line banking, now you pay if you don't. Grocery stores have self checkout, gas stations have pay at the pump, ATMs are every where and bank branches are closing down. More and more fast food restaurants have mobile apps for you to order - do you really think that's for your convenience? No, they need fewer store employees - you're doing the work now.
And what do we do with the next rung of wages if we raise minimum wage? If, for example, minimum wage jumps from $11 to $14, as it did in Ontario more than a year ago, do you think the folks with a few years of experience that were making $14/hour suddenly got a $4/hr raise too? Nope, and food prices at low end restaurants went up at a higher percentage than the high end places.
I resent the amount I pay in taxes, but it's because of the waste and stupidity I see in government, not the hand ups they could be giving. I'm a fan of hand ups, not hand outs.....I am in favour of heavily subsidized, or even free day care for a working mom even if it costs more, rather than social assistance to let her stay home. It breaks the cycle.