If the new minimum wage went into effect immediately, an hour of work would buy a gallon of gasoline (well, except for taxes paid on the "earnings"). But it doesn't go into effect until July. So for now, an hour of work is not enough, even if there weren't income tax, for this basic purchase.
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Or a loaf of bread, or a gallon of milk. With the poverty line benchmark at a mere 20K (or thereabouts) it's easy to see that the national perception of what a living wage is is incredibly skewed!
If the nation's perception of a living wage is skewed, I can only say that in the CNMI, there's little perception that a living wage is even a requirement of a humane society. (Well, perhaps that's unfair. But it seems to me that we're not talking about "living wages," just how much a raise will "hurt"!!)
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