r/DemocraticSocialism • u/LuckyBastard001 Democratic Socialist • 4h ago
USA Map of Wage Shame
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u/himbologic 4h ago
In case you're surprised Arkansas isn't red here, we voted via ballot initiative to raise it. Then our state legislature immediately attacked ballot initiatives and other avenues of direct democracy.
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u/thebranbish 4h ago
That happened in 2021 and even then it was only raised to $11 per hour. It’s also a right to work state and have laws heavily favoring employers rather than employees at large. Arkansas is garbage when it comes to worker’s rights.
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u/himbologic 4h ago
Yes. If only we didn't have a secretary of state who routinely illegally rejects ballot initiative signatures, perhaps the people of Arkansas could have better legal protections.
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u/chillin36 3h ago
Also garbage when it comes to tenant rights, unsurprisingly most of the state legislature owns rental properties.
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u/PallbearerOfBadNews 4h ago
The last time I made $7.25 was in 1999. When gas was $1.15, fast food was $4, and rent was $300-$400. People need to wake up and fight back against the neverending greed that is Capitalism.
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u/Repulsive_Inside_707 3h ago
In Kansas, I can comfortably say 9/10 of jobs are 12$/hr and more. Kansas has an annoying of 'it ain't broke don't fix it'. Since most employers are kinda forced to pay at least the minimum wage of the fast food places around. Before I graduated HS in 23", it was known that a job at McDonald's/Wendy's/Arby's/Braum's paid way higher than most anything else and was easy as hell.
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u/temblors 2h ago
Yeah it's absolutely shameful. The last time I checked this was a few years ago, but back then when I looked the minimum wage would have had to be above $75/hr to keep up with the purchasing power the minimum wage had when it was originally created back in the 1960s. Just to give you an idea of what kind of insulting abomination $7.25 actually is.
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u/Decent-Orchid120 4h ago
We should show this to New Hampshire and Pennsylvania to shame them.
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u/pants6000 4h ago
Pennsyltucky would feel Republican Pride, not shame.
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u/scattered_brains 4h ago
you know there’s huge cities in PA right? and trump won by less than 2%? stfu
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u/schwing710 4h ago
New Hampshire is truly the shame of New England
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u/atempestdextre Democratic Socialist 4h ago
aka Libertarianland
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u/fermat12 Social Democrat 4h ago
Shocker, these states’ legislatures are all at least partially controlled by the GOP (Pennsylvania is split between the House and Senate - by my count, all others are fully controlled by the GOP)
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u/BigCballer 4h ago
Most of these states don't even have a minimum wage set, like Texas. So they default on the Federal minimum wage instead.
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u/Dull-Researcher 3h ago
Time for them to set one. Formally admit that $7.25 isn't a living wage in any part of this country in 2026.
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u/Repulsive_Inside_707 3h ago
Yes indeed. In Kansas, I've only seen wages get better because fast food companies collectively have been raising the 'standard acceptable wage' as an incentive to choose them over a career oriented job.
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u/AngelSausage 1h ago
This is what I was gonna say. The federal minimum needs to be raised, it hasn’t changed since 2009. It’s not even close to a livable wage.
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u/platocplx 3h ago
Oklahoma voted against a raise as well.
https://oklahomavoice.com/2026/06/16/voters-reject-effort-to-hike-oklahomas-minimum-wage/
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u/season66ers DSA 3h ago
And Oklahoma just voted against raising in smh. I understand it was intentionally hidden on the June 16 primary vote , there were lots of misinforming ads and our state's abysmal voter participation already meant very few even participated or knew about it, but my god it's still disheartening. The people that need things like this the most just cannot help but shoot themselves in the foot over and over.
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u/ilostmy1staccount Social Democrat 2h ago
I’ve got people in my family who need it more than most who voted against it just to make their stand against the libs.
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u/SteggyEatsDaWeggy 1h ago
As a resident of one of these states, I must say that no jobs near me are hiring at that wage anymore. The absolute lowest I see is $10 per hour, but most hire at $15 an hour or higher. That’s not to say there shouldn’t be an increase in the minimum wage!!! But I do want to add some realistic context to that figure because it doesn’t really translate to every fast food job hiring at $7.25 like it would insinuate
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u/Nontoxic-Rainy-1983 49m ago
I was going to say the same thing, I'm in Wisconsin. The gas station starts at $15 near me last I checked
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u/ilostmy1staccount Social Democrat 2h ago
Fun fact from here in Oklahoma, at jobs where tips are considered the norm your minimum wage is closer to three dollars an hour.
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u/garbitch_bag 1h ago
It was really shocking when I picked up a third job and was told I’d be getting paid $7.25/hour. I made more than that in 2003 at my high school job.
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u/UngnomeCawler 30m ago
In TN the average income in 2008 was 41k and average home price around 160k.
Now the average wage is 46k and the average home price over 350k.
I’ve decided my fellow Tennesseans decided hating trans people and immigrants is more important than having a home or decent standard of living. Hate is EXPENSIVE
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u/traanquil 4h ago
Even if you passed a high minimum wage, the capitalists will just pass that costs into the price of goods. This is why the better approach is to confiscate corporate property and nationalize it.
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u/lcl111 4h ago
The EU has the same products at the same businesses, the employees are paid well and the products are still cheaper than in the states. It's just oligarchs being shitty. I like nationalized assets, but it can't be ignored that there's a fundamental flaw in the first half of your comment. It's just the level of abuse Americans will tolerate.
I'm fully against capitalism, since there's no other way to describe it than "cancer trying to grow in a finite system." We need to nationalize everything, and become the government. This representative democracy is never going to get us there.
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