 The House recently passed the Raise the Wage Act, which raises the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. So Democrats actually did the right thing, credit where it's due. They hold the majority and the House of Representatives, and most Democrats voted for this. Now is this going to be codified into law? No, because Republicans are in control of the Senate, and Donald Trump obviously occupies the executive branch, meaning this will die in the Senate, and even if it passed the Senate, Donald Trump would veto it. But you know, this is still important because it shows the American people that Democrats, at least in this area, when it comes to a livable wage, they are with the American people. Now it's sad that it took this long, that it took us basically almost eight years actually of fighting for a $15 minimum wage, that they've all collectively gotten on board with it, but nonetheless credit where it's due, this is a good move. Now Rashida Tlaib was talking about this, and she kind of gave everyone a reality check because even if we should be celebrating this because this is a victory, even if it is a symbolic victory, we've been fighting for $15 for so long now that the cost of living, it hasn't gotten any cheaper. So really, we should start getting the ball rolling about an $18 to $20 an hour minimum wage. Here's what she had to say. For $2.13, as a tip to place, $2.13 per hour, federally, some states of course, here in Michigan, it's over $2.50 or so, but think about that for one minute, and people cannot live on those kinds of wages, and we can't allow people to be living off of tip and place, relying on tip wages. It's just not, or whatever they call it, income, because it's just not enough to support our families. But I also want to always tell a story because big fights like this one, $15, by the way when we started it, it should have been $15. Now I think it should be $20, picture a man uprising here, it should be $20. It should be $20 an hour, but $18 to $20 an hour is the point of everything on cost, and so if they say all this is going to raise the cost, but I can tell you, milk is gone up, eggs is gone up, everything is gone up, the cost of food is gone up, the cost of a lot of things that we eat guys, it's gone up. Now you won't be surprised to know that she was attacked viciously for saying this, but what she's saying is factually correct. We've been fighting for a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour for nearly eight years now, as each year passes, the cost of living increases, the price of bread and milk goes up. So if we are fighting for a $15 minimum wage and we don't actually get it codified into law until 15 years or so after we started that fight, guess what, $15 an hour is no longer sufficient. Now back in either 2016 or 2015 when I first started the Humanist Report, I actually did a video where I looked at the cost of living around the country and I said, look, if we're being real and we're truly advocating for a living wage, then $15 an hour isn't going to be enough. In some areas, New York City for example, you need a $30 minimum wage if you expect people to survive because not every area is the same. So what you really need ideally is you start out with a base minimum wage of $18 to $20 per hour, I would say $20 because you'll be negotiated down to $18, and then you chain that to inflation and the cost of living so it just gradually increases every single year automatically. So we don't have to have this discussion because the last time that Congress raised the minimum wage was in 2009, they raised it to $7.25, that was 10 years ago. So of course, we can't keep doing this because if we don't continuously raise the wage, then people won't be able to survive because the economy is not something that's static. It's a dynamic thing. So you have to make sure that people's wages reflect the changes of the economy. So when she talks about $18 to $20 an hour, she's being incredibly forward thinking here because you have to continuously push the envelope. We finally get Democrats to agree to $15, great. Now we talk about $20 because look, here's the thing, you always have to make sure that when you're conducting negotiations, you aim higher than where you know is actually feasible, right? So if you ideally want a $20 minimum wage or an $18 minimum wage, you're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't start at $20 or $25 an hour because all you're going to do is get negotiated down away from your ideal position. So you start at the most extreme position and then you make concessions gradually. That's how you make sure you get good legislation passed. It's what Obama didn't realize when he was trying to fight for the Affordable Care Act because initially he said he supports a public option, didn't even propose it and he still got zero Republicans to vote for the ACA. So you have to be smart. You have to be strategically savvy and you need to know that you are working with Republicans who are going to do whatever they can to chip away at the progress that you want to make. So what do you do? You aim higher in hopes of landing at your ideal position. This is common sense. So Rashida Tlaib, she is she's thinking forward here. This is the exact right move. Like I said, whatever Democrats finally come around to your position, you push them to go even further because that's the only way you actually get what you want codified into a lot. You continuously hold their feet to the fire. You act like that asshole boss who's never satisfied no matter what. You're always complaining because guess what? You are the boss of every single member of Congress because you write their checks. Your tax dollars pay their mortgage. So without you, they wouldn't exist. Keep that in mind. You're their boss. They are your subordinate. So great move here by Rashida Tlaib. Again, this is not something like she's not codifying or not codifying, but she's not sponsoring legislation for a $20 minimum wage. She's just floating this idea. But this was basically a gigantic scandal to Republicans. Fox News ran many segments about it. They fear mongered about this. But I'm sorry, if you are not starting to think about this with how long the fight for 15 has been going on, then you don't actually care about a living wage. And we know that Fox News would get rid of the minimum wage if they could. But I mean, if you're a liberal and you're against this, if you're left wing and you're against this, just because you're worried about attacks from Republicans, well, stop worrying about that because guess what? You're going to be attacked no matter what. So all you do is fight for the people in the best way possible and the most vocal way possible. And you do it with bold ideas like this.