Raise the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour so the workers in states without progressive minimum wage laws can afford living

A 32 hour per week employee earning minimum wage currently earns $574 pre-tax dollars above the poverty line annually. The poverty threshold for one person is $11,490 (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm#thresholds). A society is judged by how it treats its poor and disabled when history is written. It is not in the interest of America for our working class to be impoverished, and in turn relying on handouts. Instead, let's give the working person a hand up. Let's raise the minimum wage to $8.25 per hour