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I've used the MIT Living Wage calculator a number of times to try to help get a handle on the difference in the COL between where they are now on the mainland, and where they want to be in Hawai'i. Essentially they are trying to create a "realistic" poverty level.
One thing that may not be obvious at casual examination, but the MIT calculator was created for... tuhhh dahhhh... EPI, the very same think tank which published the bad report which now needs to be fixed.
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On the topic of "realistic living wage", consider that an Amazon warehouse job pays about $11/hour. Assuming 40h/week x 52w/year, that wage is just above the poverty line if you have no dependents.
The definition of "middle class" is "having enough wealth to send your kids to college". Most of today's "middle" are actually "working class", which is a fancy economist term for "paycheck-to-paycheck" or "hand-to-mouth".
Let's be sure to argue about surveillance, or guns, or healthcare -- anything except figuring out who sold 98% of the public down the river.
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Kalakoa:
You got the real issue. Eventually, the others are secondary, because having economic security and health makes all else possible.
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Just read an interesting analysis today, that if McDonalds were to DOUBLE the wages of their employees, it would only raise the price of a Quarter Pounder by 37 cents.
So much for the argument that they can't afford to pay more than minimum.
