CNN Poll: 4 out of 5 want a raise to minimum wage

This 80% pro showing surprises me. But we're talking about a minimum wage that has not changed in the better part of a decade while we've seen wild increases in housing costs, groceries, fuel (heating and transportation), electricity, health-related needs and other very basic expenses.

The battle in Congress over it is not being represented very accurately in the MSM but there's no surprise there. Republicans are only willing to accept an increase in the minimum wage IF certain other measures go with it, including corporate protections and a lengthening of the work week. Rick Santorum (Putz-Pennsylvania), for example, wants to see those who get tips no longer draw a base salary (and don't let me get started on the whole issue of gratuities; I do not believe there should be "tips").

Every politician likes to cite the fact that raising the minimum wage hurts businesses and kills job growth. They always specify the little employer with 10 or fewer workers. But the companies who pay at or near minimum wage in the greatest percentage of cases are places like WalMart whose profits have put and kept the Walton family on the richest Americans list for years. They only kill jobs to maximize their profit.

But every person who puts in a full work week, week after week, should be able to earn enough that they can meet their basic expenses. Minimum wage - whether set at a GOP level or a Democratic one - does not allow American workers to do that, plain and simple.