You have no idea what Socialism is, do you? America is the opposite of what Socialism is. Countries like Finland are far closer to Socialism, where ALL education is free even to foreigners. ALL healthcare is free. There are no insurance companies ripping you off when you get ill. There is not some much of a hierarchy there, because 97% of Finns are educated in public schools. There's no "prestigious" private schools. All taxes and fines are based off your income over there. Not only that, in actual "socialist" countries a decent amount of industries are owned by the state. Like in the UK from 1945 to 1979. Things like railway, mining, gas, electricity, telecommunications, car companies, even some media were ran by the state. This is alongside our healthcare and mail (the only things which weren't sold off under Margaret Thatcher and John Major). Around 1/4 of our economy was in the public sector before 1979. Regulations were also strong and the population was very unionised. 

Just because you have some sort of safety net in terms of benefits and foos stamps, that don't make America socialist. Most developed countries have this and they are all free market capitalist societies now. Also, if America is socialist why is inequality so high? Just comparing Compton, LA to Beverly Hills, LA just says it all. 

Anyway, the problem with the free market is they have NEVER paid their workers enough, even before the welfare state. It is just used as an excuse now to keep wages low. Fortunately, some working class people use the welfare state as an excuse not to work but it is hardly suprising when wages aren't high enough.  

I do hope they get what they need to make a living by minimum standards. Those wages are abysmal and the gap between rich and poor is big for a reason.
Some people in this thread actually scare me.

We all need a basic standard of living for the economy to remain successful. Also, how can you persume all McDonalds workers are under-achievers or drug takers?For a lot of people, McDonalds is their first job, it is never a long term thing (in my country, university students often work in them just for a little extra money. They go wherever is available). And, show me where these second jobs are when at least 8% of Americans can't even secure ONE job? Jobs don't appear from thin air you know. Finally, you think McDonalds can't afford to increase it's wages? That is just absurd with the profits it's making.   

your sheer ignorance on how an economy functions is staggering and appalling. 

They make $9 an hour? o.O When I was working at the fast food place in my town in Australia, I was 16 and earning $13.25 an hour!

Yeah!

Human exploitation is the fondation that society is built on!

I speak from experience when I say it's not really practical to live off minimum wage or the wages right around it. To give you some context, if you work 40 hours a week at $9.00 and guestimating state and federal withholdings to be about 15%, your take home pay is $1225 a month, or just short of $15,000 a year.

However, that number fluctuates wildly depending on demand, and since Obamacare companies have been pushing to consider 30 hours a week full time so they don't have to pay for health benefits. Between the two, you'll be doing well to make $10,000 a year.

That worked in my case because I was living with my parents as I went to college, and I could keep about 75% of my take-home pay to cover college tuition. If I had to cover my own living expenses, though? HECK NO. Even if I had a roommate, car payments and insurance would mean I'd have nothing left for groceries.

Minimum wage jobs are not a viable living situation. They're pocket change for high school and college students.

You wasn't 18 years old, it's 15 dollars an hour. :)

However, Australians think differently to the Americans when it comes to work.
Generally, Americans live to work where-as Australians work to live, we get higher wages, better working conditions and more holidays to drink beer and watch footy'. :)
Not to mention Aussies generally work less overall.

But productivity *has* increased. If the minimum wage had kept pace with productivity (compared to the starting minimum wage and worker productivity at the time of minimum wage's inception), it would be $16.

So actually, these strikers are being generous.

I'd say devaluing the dollar hurts the middle class more. The working poor get their money and spend it, and those on public assistance see their benefits flex along the consumer price index. The wealthy, owning businesses, stocks, and other physical assets benefit from inflation. The middle class, who tend more towards bonds and savings, are the ones who get hit.