I am not above begging. Whitehouse.gov created a program where citizens create their own petitions and, if they gather enough signatures, someone from the Obama Administration will respond. I have created a petition to pursue an increase in the minimum wage. I am asking for your signatures to help put this issue on the administration's radar.
The text of my petition is as follows:
Increase the minimum wage.
Raise the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour by 2015 and set a target of $15.00 per hour by 2020. Someone who works 40 hours per week ought to be able to make enough to support a family without the need for government or charitable assistance.
More after the squiggle
I know the minimum wage was just raised a few years ago, but at $7.25 per hour a minimum wage worker who works 40 hours per week for a year, with no sick days, vacation days or holidays will earn just $15,000 per year. That is scarcely enough for a person to live on, let alone a family. In a time with so much talk of austerity cuts will be made, people will be asked to sacrifice. Corporations, defense contractors, and seniors all have powerful lobbies. The poor do not. I have little doubt the heaviest burdens will fall on them. It is important we give them the chance to stand on their own, before the rug is pulled out from under them.
There are two important thresholds for these petitions. 150 signatures gets the petition publicly released on the whitehouse.gov site where more people will see it and sign it. 5000 signatures is the current threshold for receiving a response from the administration. My petition thanks largely to the work of a number of other kossacks currently has 30. Petitions have 30 days to receive the required number of signatures to gain a response. The deadline for my petition is October 26th. Please sign my petition to give this issue more exposure. You can find links to other kossack petitions here.