It was the frigid winter of 1975, oil prices had skyrocketed, and I had moved back home with my mother, four brothers and two sisters. The house was a modest, four bedroom two story clapboard heated by an oil furnace. In October of that year, Mom assembled a family meeting to ask whether we wanted her to buy groceries or oil for the heater that winter. She wouldn't be able to afford both. Petroleum prices were …showed first 75 words of 939 total…

…showed last 75 words of 939 total…In real (inflation-adjusted) terms, the minimum wage reached its peak in 1968, when it was worth $6.92 in 1998 dollars." www.policyalmanac.org/economic visited on 2/4/05. In any civilized country, all citizens should be assured of adequate shelter, food and medical coverage. In the last election, the politicians spoke about the importance of the family, getting back to "family values" and morality. Where is that morality when we deny any of our citizens the basic necessities of life?