I'm going to chip into the military pay side of the conversation because this is a topic that never fails to annoy me. Due disclosure, I'm an active duty E-4, currently deployed, and I've definitely wished for more money before. But that's mostly because I'm saving for law school (no, the G.I. Bill isn't enough by itself) and because everyone always wants more money. Here is why I don't support a radical increase in pay for junior enlisted soldiers...
Your average junior enlisted soldier (E-1 to E-4) is a year or two out of high school. They have little or no college education. They have no trade skills (plumbing, HVAC, etc). They have little job experience (maybe McDonalds or some other high school job). Frankly, they have no marketable skills. In the civilian world they would probably be working a minimum wage job or going to school.
We'll use E-3 for the average pay, since most soldiers can bump up a pay grade or two coming in and you make E-3 pretty quickly. An E-3 earns roughly $1500 a month. Call it $18,000 a year before taxes. They also get their housing provided for them on post or paid for off post. They get their meals provided for them on post or money for groceries. They get free medical care. (Remember all those poor hard working civilians that have no medical insurance at all?) They get $400,000 of life insurance for $25 a month. They get $370.80 every year to pay for new uniforms. For the nominal deduction of $1200 their first year they will get the Montgomery G.I. Bill to pay for school when they get out. The G.I. Bill is now worth $39,636 over four years or almost a 3300% return on their investment. Most soldiers right now will get at least several thousand dollars for an enlistment bonus. Plus possibly additional college money or extra money each month for going to a unit that will deploy soon. And finally, they are probably getting trained in a job skill and now they will always be able to put "Veteran" on any job application when they get out.
So basically, a single, 18-20 year old soldier with no education and no skills will get $18,000 a year in fun money. All their major obligations (housing, food, medical care) are already taken care of. And these are all benefits any soldier, regardless of deploying, will get. No need to worry about married soldiers. They'll get their housing off post paid for, extra money for food and other things, medical care for their spouse, higher COLA, etc.
The reason military members are prey to predatory lending is they are not responsible with their money. I knew a guy who got out of the Air Force after four years with all the benefits I just mentioned and he had nothing. Not only did he have nothing, he owed $15,000 on the Grand Prix he just bought, he had a big screen TV he still owed $4,000 on, and he had several thousand dollars in credit card debt. There are people I know now that are exactly the same way.
My parents raised six kids on maybe $30,000 a year tops. I have no sympathy for soldiers that are making almost $20,000 by them self putting them self into debt by buying too many toys. French G. summed it up well when he said soldiers don't need more money in their pocket, they need a better head on their shoulders.