The concept of a living wage is fluid. Things tend to go from luxury, to aspirational, to ubiquitous. Electricity, cars, internet, non-dirt floors, children ha

The concept of a living wage is fluid. Things tend to go from luxury, to aspirational, to ubiquitous. Electricity, cars, internet, non-dirt floors, children having their own bedrooms... none of these are things my grandparents had access to. But now you cannot even build a house like the one they grew up in--it would not meet code. Even a poor person is expected to have access to running water and electricity. I know it's controversial, but I think there is an upward sliding of what we expect the bare minimum to be. You could easily raise a family on minimum wage if you lived like a family 100 years ago.