It seems like every year the price of everything goes up just a little bit.

University tuition has almost doubled over the past four years. Gas prices are constantly on the rise. A simple loaf of bread has quadrupled in price since the year I was born.

People who know more about economics than I do will tell you it’s natural for our to inflate over time.

But it doesn’t take a degree in finance to see that as prices rise, people will need more money to afford basic staples of everyday life.

Democratic legislators in New Jersey have proposed a new amendment to their state constitution that will, if passed, ensure that this will no longer be a problem for their citizens.

The amendment would immediately increase the minimum wage in New Jersey to $8.25 an hour. More importantly though, the amendment provides for yearly increases to the minimum wage based on the Consumer Price Index.

This amendment is exactly the type of far-reaching legislation we need in a nationally difficult time like this.

In her book “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” Barbara Ehrenreich tells her story of giving up life as a well-fed, well-paid college professor and travelling across the country, working several minimum wage jobs.

Ehrenreich’s results were simple but telling – she ended up working 16-hour days, living in motels and skipping meals just to support herself, all the while dealing with hostile bosses and medical problems caused by her jobs.

The fact is it’s simply not feasible for one person to support themselves on minimum wage — never mind supporting a family. Combined with the fact that 5.2 percent of American workers earn minimum wage or less, it paints a harrowing picture of life for a group we tend to ignore.

But raising the minimum wage has benefits beside actually helping people – which I know is just a reprehensible idea to some.

A higher minimum wage means more people will actually be able to sustain an acceptable quality of life through their job. These people then might not be so reliant on government entitlements for such outrageous luxuries as cell phones or refrigerators.

But in New Jersey, even opponents of the amendment concede that the minimum wage needs to be increased. What Gov. Chris Christie considers “a truly ridiculous idea” is amending the state constitution as opposed to going through regular legislative avenues.

Ignoring the fact that Christie is just feeling a little emasculated because those meanie Democrats got around his power of veto, I think the New Jerseyans are onto something.

By amending their constitution, the New Jersey legislators are preparing for the future, when minimum wage will undoubtedly need to be raised again. And by using the nonpolitical Consumer Price Index, it would ensure everyone’s needs are met without the need for this endless, tiresome debate every year.

Both Democrats and Republicans say they want a smoother-running government without the deadlock. But now that a real, creative solution has been raised, everyone’s got out their pitchforks, saying, “That’s not how we do things around here.”