On May 26th, 2015, Bernie Sanders announced his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Sanders, a junior senator from Vermont, began his political career as an officer at the University of Chicago’s chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1981 he was elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont by a mere 10 votes. Sanders, a self-proclaimed Socialist Democrat, has views that are completely unlike those of Vladimir Putin or Raul Castro. For example, he believes in leveling the playing field when it comes to large companies paying their fair share of taxes, so that our government can pay student’s tuition for public colleges and universities. Since Sanders announced his intentions to run for president, he has lessened the gap between
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Prominently on his platform is his plank on economics. Sanders is a major supporter of a higher minimum wage, which he calls “a living wage” (Sanders Introduces) in an address to low wage workers in July of 2015. The definition of a living wage, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a wage sufficient to provide the necessities and comforts essential to an acceptable standard of living.” Sanders believes that the opportunity to succeed should be available to everyone. Raising the minimum wage would increase said opportunity. However, some may argue that changing the minimum wage is not the way to help the poor. For instance, both Kevin Hasset, the director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Michael Strain, a research fellow at AEI, say in their article entitled, “The Minimum-Wage Debate,” that raising the minimum wage “will make it more expensive for business to hire young and low-skill workers at a time of crisis-level unemployment.” Throughout the article they argue that raising the minimum wage alone will not ease poverty. Fortunately, that is not Sanders’ only solution to the growing poverty issues here in America. Along with raising the minimum wage, Sanders wants to invest in the youth of this country by providing free tuition to public colleges and universities. This combined with raising the minimum wage will increase the ability for people to climb out of poverty and into the middle class. Sanders is quoted saying that “If our economy is to be strong, we need the best educated work force in the world” (Desiderio). The workforce is becoming more and more competitive; thus, without an education, it is extremely difficult for people to grow economically. All future generations will benefit from free college tuition regardless of social class. Free college and university means that people can save more; thus,
Prominently on his platform is his plank on economics. Sanders is a major supporter of a higher minimum wage, which he calls “a living wage” (Sanders Introduces) in an address to low wage workers in July of 2015. The definition of a living wage, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a wage sufficient to provide the necessities and comforts essential to an acceptable standard of living.” Sanders believes that the opportunity to succeed should be available to everyone. Raising the minimum wage would increase said opportunity. However, some may argue that changing the minimum wage is not the way to help the poor. For instance, both Kevin Hasset, the director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Michael Strain, a research fellow at AEI, say in their article entitled, “The Minimum-Wage Debate,” that raising the minimum wage “will make it more expensive for business to hire young and low-skill workers at a time of crisis-level unemployment.” Throughout the article they argue that raising the minimum wage alone will not ease poverty. Fortunately, that is not Sanders’ only solution to the growing poverty issues here in America. Along with raising the minimum wage, Sanders wants to invest in the youth of this country by providing free tuition to public colleges and universities. This combined with raising the minimum wage will increase the ability for people to climb out of poverty and into the middle class. Sanders is quoted saying that “If our economy is to be strong, we need the best educated work force in the world” (Desiderio). The workforce is becoming more and more competitive; thus, without an education, it is extremely difficult for people to grow economically. All future generations will benefit from free college tuition regardless of social class. Free college and university means that people can save more; thus,