Minimum Wage Analysis

In a political cartoon drawn by Nick Anderson for The Houston Chronicle, a man is depicted standing on top of a huge mountain of money. There is a smaller person standing on the ground with a sign that reads, “Raise minimum wage.” The man standing on the pile of money is saying to the other person “Your greed is hurting the economy.” The cartoonist is trying to make a point about those standing in opposition to a higher minimum wage. Anderson is saying that those who are against raising the minimum wage are extremely greedy, and that they are hypocrites for calling proponents of a higher minimum wage greedy. The cartoonist shows the true irony in the battle to win a livable minimum wage. In America, minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. This wage is not a livable wage, which is what an implemented minimum wage was originally supposed to be. The minimum wage should be able to sustain someone who is working full-time, but that is no longer the case in modern America. The struggles of those working for minimum wage are many. Those in opposition to a higher minimum wage say that people don’t deserve a higher wage, that they are just being greedy. This however, is not the case. Most people are just trying to be able to support themselves and their families. No one can live on seven dollars …show more content…
Nick Anderson strongly uses symbolism to strengthen this argument by literally depicting the “upper class” character as being above the other character. This causes one character to be both literally and figuratively looking down onto the other character depicted. The CEO figure on the pile of money is included in the 1%, those who own most of the nations wealth. These wealthy figures continue to get wealthier while the middle and lower classes either stay stagnant or get poorer. Anderson depicts that stark contrast in his