Whether wearing mittens and sorting his mail, or that time when he said a journalist shouldn’t chat about his hair, Bernie Sanders is as adorable as the state of Vermont, which he has repped as a U.S. senator since 2007. But Sanders is also a remarkable and intelligent politician who has been advocating for Americans for decades, and that includes talking about the terrible state of the federal minimum wage.
In August 2024, Sanders shared a map on X and explained that no one who gets paid the minimum wage can pay for a two-bedroom apartment. This is one reason why he would have been a great VP. Thankfully, Sanders is still speaking passionately about things that matter and trying to do some good in the world.
The senator also posted on X that people ignore “the most important issues facing ordinary Americans.” If a sentence could sum up his political beliefs, it would definitely be that.
Sanders has long advocated for increasing the minimum wage, and agreed with President Joe Biden’s desire to increase the amount to $15, as noted by CNN. In 2019, according to USA Today, Sanders criticized Walmart for not budging on the issue, considering that the Walton family are worth $174 billion. Sanders didn’t mince words, calling their employee compensation “absurd and unacceptable.” In 2023, CNBC reported that he said “nobody should be forced to work for starvation wages” and wanted people to get paid $17 per hour, which is more than double the current federal minimum wage of $7.25. It’s wild and terrible to think that the wage was set back in 2009, and hasn’t gone up since.
It’s fun to watch HGTV and dream of living in a world where every house looks like it was designed by Joanna Gaines (who is admittedly wealthy herself). But it’s pretty sobering to look at exactly what two-bedroom apartments rent for across the U.S.
There’s New York City, for example, which isn’t known for its convenience or affordability. According to a brief search on Zillow, a two-bed in the Bronx rents for $4,000, and a place in Brooklyn is a terrifying $7,784. What about Columbus, Ohio? A two-bedroom on Apartmentfinder.com rents for between $1,749 and $2,669. Sanders’s home state isn’t any cheaper, either. Another Zillow scroll reveals that an apartment with two bedrooms in Burlington, Vermont costs at least $2,250. Yikes! As a lifelong resident of Toronto where rents are always high and tiny houses go on the market for over $1 million, I feel this pain. (And, btw, a two-bedroom in Toronto rents for $3,192 on average, according to Zumper.)
So, if someone earns minimum wage over a 40-hour work week, they make $1,160 each month. According to Velocityglobal.com, some states pay a higher wage, so the average monthly income might be around $1,218. It’s easy to see how there’s no way that someone could afford such a high rent, and that’s truly unconscionable.
Everyone deserves to be able to live somewhere comfortable and nice, and a two-bedroom place shouldn’t be out of reach for so many. Thankfully, Kamala Harris seems to be on the same page as Sanders here. According to CNBC, she talked about upping the minimum wage at her recent Las Vegas rally. Hopefully, she’ll make history in November and put this policy into action.
Published: Aug 13, 2024 06:05 pm