The US economy is in good shape

Okay, nice argument, many points were made. But here are some problems: (1) "Low Wage" You say many are "low wage", which there are many Americans who run on minimum wage, which stands at $7.25 an hour. But low wage is pretty irrelevant. If you want to say we need to raise that low, minimum wage to help our economy, I'll tell you that raising it will cause HUGE problems in our economy. Raising that "low wage", which many Americans are lucky to get other than not having a job, will raise the unemployment rate! Seems crazy, right? Here's the reasoning. For a minute, you have to think about the owners paying the employees more. You think 5.5 is bad? When business owners have to pay more, they might go in debt for paying more an hour. President Barack Obama wants the wage changed to $10.10 an hour (https://www.whitehouse.gov...). Think about it: That is a $2.85 increase an hour from $7.25. That can really add up depending on the number of employees and the hours worked. A graph in a political article showed that with a state's minimum wage at $7.25, that state would have an average unemployment rate at 6.4%. Then, states with a minimum wage over $7.25 showed to have an average unemployment rate of 7.4%. Simply raising the minimum wage can increase a state's average unemployment rate by 1% (Gitis 2014: .) So raising the wage, which many can say will help the economy, will raise the unemployment rate, which you say is bad enough now. Also, businesses can just shut down. A business owner said that she has to fear of being shut down because of the raising wages (www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/business/smallbusiness/as-minimum-wages-rise-businesses-grapple-with-the-consequences.html>.) Commerce is big to our economy, and could be shut down. So the "low wages" are actually good, and should be good for the people who are employed compared to the 5.5% who aren't. (2) Incomes Yes, many incomes are lower in America, which can bring more poverty, but reasons why incomes are lower can be a few problems. One is the minimum wage, which we discussed earlier, which is actually good for our economy. Think about it: Higher minimum wage, more money for businesses to pay, employees are fired, unemployment goes up, incomes are lower because they don't have a job! Second, many people don't have a job, but this isn't the economy's fault. It is actually, mainly, the persons fault! According to the U.S. Coast Guard, reasons people don't have jobs is because they don't search for jobs, don't trust small businesses, don't have certain skills, etc. (https://www.uscg.mil....) Maybe the reason for these low incomes isn't only the recession, but the lack of people getting jobs themselves. (3) Final Notes Yes, you may say the government is feeding us the news of a growing economy, but look at other nations! The BBC, a big broadcasting group in the UK, says we are "Growing at quickest pace for 11 years." (http://www.bbc.com...) When other countries say we are doing well, that is saying something. It isn't OUR government speaking there, it is the government of another country! (4) Conclusion This has been a good debate, with good points on your side. I'm g;ad to have accepted it.