Why we need a mandatory living wage:

[Mudhammam]

There isn't a need for a person to hold down four jobs to make ends meet. That's a myth. The poor in the United States are so well off compared to much of the world.

I know the typical response is that we should strive to be better than so and so shithole country etc and that somehow it's an unfair comparison.

Well it's not really an unfair comparison, since your average person in the world lives in the third world. The poor here still drive cars largely, live a single family in an apartment, have video games. It's ridiculous. We've eliminated starvation in this country to the point that our poorest citizens are actually more likely to be overweight. Meanwhile the lifestyle of everyone in this country hurts the environment and people in other countries but we maintain that somehow the 'poor' and the middle class in this country need more. Maybe instead of trying to plunder money from the rich we should all focus on being happy and learning to live with less. Eventually everyone will have to anyway.

All good points but I don't know if I'd say that the need for four jobs to make ends meet is a myth. Considering the costs of a car, car maintenance, gas, a small apartment, electricity, heat, groceries, a working phone--all of which I'd say are for the most basic necessities in America for anyone who wants to work (public transport where I live is pretty inadequate), that's already quite a large bill, and one that anything less $11 bucks an hour is going to make greatly difficult paying for. Add in basic health and dental insurance (who wants to have rotting teeth?), and a person is going to have very little left for savings. And a family? Forget about it!

And what if the person wants to actually live, rather than merely survive and sit inside all day reading books or going for walks?

While I can't complain, as I undoubtedly have it better than most people in the world, at least in third world countries a person has an actual jungle to play in and not a concrete one.