America first. Money goes further in third-world countries. I wouldn't want an extra buck an hour. That would get me nowhere. People such as you describe used to make $16 per hour until the factories were shut down and driven out of business, partly because the unions got too greedy. That does not mean that I am against unions per se.
More people work for the government than ever before and get better pay than equivalent work in the private sector. Taxpayers are paying every penny of their salaries.
I would like to see some of those jobs come back for people. Now a lot of those jobs are seasonal.
Maybe you think everybody should be college-educated and have a high paying job, but we need the other kind of people to do the hard and dangerous work of keeping our highways repaired so people like you can drive your family to Disneyland, Adventureland, Six Flags, for getaways.
"we need the other kind of people to do the hard and dangerous work of keeping our highways repaired"
Absolutely. Entrepeneurs who create products, fix roads, etc... will make far more than a living wage.
The laborers who work on highway construction make more than living wage.