A Word on Senator Sanders

Senator Bernie Sanders has fought time and time again for a raised minimum wage. In the July 2015 Minimum Wage Rally, he said "The American people need a raise! We have got to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour..." (source).

I find it extremely fascinating that Sen. Sanders has chosen to pay his Senate interns, a measly $12 an hour. Is that a living wage for the average student or recent graduate? Especially one which is, according to his website, "responsible for their own housing (source)."

Let's do the math, Senate interns work about 15 hours per week. At $12 per hour, an intern makes about $180 per week, not including taxes, which we'll ignore for this scenario. Internships last on average 12 weeks, so that comes to $2160 for one session. Doesn't sound so bad, right?

Let's take into account housing now. Twelve week session, four weeks a month, a student would be there for about 3 months. If we give a very generous $1,500 for rent and utilities per month for an apartment in DC, and split that between two people, our student is paying $2250 for three months of rent.

Earned: $2,160
Costs: $2,250
And that doesn't include food, transport, etc.

Senator Sanders claims that the minimum wage should be a living wage. Yet here we see his own hypocrisy. Oops?

-Writing to you from M, Personally