I said in my op that anyone who spending 40 hours of their life every week at a job should not be impoverished. You do realize that poverty means you can't survive on your own, right? To answer your question about raising the pay of every other job: no. Just because a McDonald's employee should make $12 an hour doesn't mean a doctor should make a million. The reason for this is simple: the doctor is already wealthy; he doesn't need more money.