Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is well known for her stance on raising the minimum wage. While there have been conversations for years about raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, AOC believes that is still not a livable wage. Instead, she is pushing for $24 an hour by 2025. At one point, she said, “when you take the minimum wage from several decades ago and you actually account for inflation and productivity gains to today, it should really be $24 an hour.” Some economists were alarmed by the hike in price and did not support her views. However, in a tweet by AOC on March 2, she reiterates that paying people enough to live off of should be the absolute bare minimum, and should not be up for debate. She also noted how in foreign countries, McDonald's workers are paid $22 an hour and they also receive 6 weeks of paid vacation throughout the year. We are told that America is the best country on earth, however many Americans live on or below the poverty line because the minimum wage is barely over $7 an hour.
