Mary Lou: Idaho Keeps Its Poor Down

An old Frank Sinatra song puts the American Dream to music: “You could be better off than you are, you could be swinging on a star.” But stars to swing on are not in the skies of the 31,000 Idaho workers who eke out a living on jobs paying the $7.25-an-hour minimum wage here. At that rate, one employee working full time will only pull in $15,080 a year. The result is a borderline poverty-level existence and eligibility for food stamps — that is, if the U.S. Senate restores the food stamps that the House of Representatives just voted away. Idaho, along with several other states, raises the minimum wage only when Congress chooses to do so. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set the first minimum wage in 1938, at a mere 25 cents an hour. The $7.25-an-hour rate, set by Congress in 2009, has rapidly become outdated/ Mary Lou Reed , Inlander. More here .

Question: Do Idaho policies help/hurt poor?