    Discussion in Gary on Raising Federal Minimum Wage  Share
this post  A roundtable discussion was held today in Gary
regarding President Obama's proposal to raise the federal
minimum wage. Acting Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour
Department of the Department of Labor, Mary Beth Maxwell, says
they have been traveling the country and hearing stories from
hard-working-people and finding folks cannot make ends-meet on
$7.25 an hour. She says people are having to choose between
medicine or food, and struggling to even get to their minimum
wage job due to high transportation costs. Maxwell says despite
the argument that this would have a negative effect on job
growth, which it doesn't, raising the minimum wage strengthens
the economy because people spend the money, which is good for
local businesses. Maxwell says this is just the beginning of
this process, which is meant to build majority support by
lifting up the stories of people affected by it, which she says
most Americans believe should happen. # #