I think what he was saying though, which I'd agree with, is that in most places if we assume a minimum livable wage to be ~10$ (which is a generous statement, I

I think what he was saying though, which I'd agree with, is that in most places if we assume a minimum livable wage to be ~10$ (which is a generous statement, I think), one barely comes out at ~20k (napkin math) yearly. Yes, you may be able to cover the necessities, but you mentioned healthcare, if you had an unlucky year where you were responsible for the maximum of your copay, that would probably put you into savings? Or if there was an "act of god" that wasn't covered under, say, car insurance (to give an example that nailed me recently, a hailstorm), there's another few k. As some sort of point to all this, the discussion on livable wage needs to encompass the fact that there are some big holes in our financial system that people can still fall through that will hamstring you for years to come, even if the base wage is technically livable.