In the State of the Union address, President Clinton spoke about his past achievements as well as goals--one of which was a minimum wage increase. This confuses me because I thought we just had an increase this past September. Now it's not even seven months later and it's going to be raised again to $6.35 an hour, and eventually $7.35 an hour. I bet you think that sounds grand. Well, let's think this over. Sure, you have more paper in your back pocket, but the cost of goods and services are 'guaranteed' to catch up with you. Costs of goods must eventually rise so the stores have enough money to pay higher wages. This is the catch. You are working for a minimum wage job. You've been working there for say a year and they raise your salary from $5.15 an hour to about $6.50. Now everyone else is almost caught up to you but the store can't afford to raise your wages any higher. When the cost of goods catches up with everything you're paying more but getting less. This also lessens the worth of the middle income person's buying power. It is then that you realize you actually aren't getting any more. Even if you are just getting only the minimum wage you still don't get any more than you were because the cost of things increases too. Next time you feel like getting more money for your back pocket, become a doctor because that's the only way it could really happen.