It is amazing how far our country has come from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration. There was concern about what workers’ should make for their labor. Where has it gone? In Arindrajit Dube’s’s opinion piece, The Minimum We Can Do (The New York Times, 2013), he discusses and asks questions concerning today’s federal minimum wage policies. Dube wants to know what should be done. Yet, isn’t that what everyone would want? What is fair?  However, the amount of minimum wage is what is creating inequality.

This article brought me back to a previous course assignment which truly changed my perspective. The assignment was to visit the internet website inequality.is and interact with the program. It showed statistics and situations that have led to where inequality is today. It provided comparisons of my possible income based off of my gender, ethnicity, age and education, which are all factors Dube discusses in his article. It was insightful to see the varying amounts depending on if I said I was White or Hispanic. No matter what, I had a lower income because I was a female.

Could it be that prejudice is a factor in those suffering from hunger and homelessness? Reflecting back on people I have seen on the streets and gave money to, the factors seen in both Dube’s article and the inequality.is interactive hold true. The concept of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work” is no longer relevant. Our country needs to stop doing the minimum in order for all to receive the maximum.