"it's pretty clear it was intended to be." During FDRs time, we didn't have the looming threat of automation or competition from countries like China, where th

"it's pretty clear it was intended to be." During FDRs time, we didn't have the looming threat of automation or competition from countries like China, where they can pay workers a fraction of our minimum wage and productions are priced equally as low. "Businesses clearly survived (and thrived!) then; its purchasing power now is 1/3 lower than the peak in 1968." This may be true, but raising minimum wage will result in an overall increase in prices for everyone, including the recipients of that wage increase. It's really just a shell game anyway. You increase minimum wage, prices eventually catch up (IE: inflation), and those people that had minimum wage increased are now back in nearly the same position because their value has been increased artificially. This may take 5-10 years, but it will happen. The correct (and more difficult) solution is to educate/train those workers so they can provide more value to companies. Politicians don't want to even talk about it because giving free money to people sounds so much better to most people and wins you votes. Other reasons for high cost of rent is regulation: San Francisco also has one of the highest percentage of homelessness and one of the highest cost to rent. One of the reasons? Housing regulations prevents many new building projects from completion. The supply is low and the demand is always high. This could be solved by simply decreasing regulations. Why isn't it being done?