The New York Times has an interactive feature in which you can plug in your basic living expenses and see how far the minimum wage ($8 in New York, $6.25 by Arkansas law for those not covered by the federal minimum) will go in covering it.
Also in the Times today: How the restaurant industry is working through lobbyists to defeat federal legislation to increase the minimum wage.
Working people’s hopes must rest at the ballot box. For now, polls show most people favor an increase in the minimum wage. This is before a huge industry effort to convince people that below-subsistence wages are good for business, if not for the people who receive them.
A campaign is underway in Arkansas to bring an increase to the ballot. From the sounds of things, the business lobby won’t go along with an increase to avoid a worse outcome as they did once before.