[MMMMMM]

If the minimum wage were to be raised significantly, there will be fewer jobs. So it's a trade-off.

Very few people even try to make a living on minimum wage, and it's NOT a living wage. Minimum wage jobs are usually held by students, recent graduates, part-timers, etc. For them, it can be a useful small income, and the job perhaps a stepping stone to better things.

It's funny you should base your take on what it's like to try to rise from being broke, on some show, which profiles a few people trying to do that on minimum wage. Well if you've never done it yourself I guess that's all you have to go on. The first question to ask is, why are these people trying to get out of being broke by working for minimum wage?

Having had the experiences of both being broke and working for minimum wage, I assure you I did not try to get ahead by my minimum wage job. I QUIT that POS job (bussing tables in a Pizza Hut at age 19) and taught myself a trade (cleaning windows), which wasn't that hard to do. And it only cost a couple hundred in start-up costs (like back in 1981). I then went out and got some customers, built up a clientele, and coasted merrily along with a profitable window-cleaning route, working my own part-time hours, until some years later when I decided to go to school for computer programming. Cleaning windows gave me plenty of free time to read and do other things--and I did love my free time--plus I could make ends meet without knocking myself out too much, but...eventually it was time to move on.

There are many ways out of being broke: working for yourself, even if it's mowing lawns or cleaning houses, is much better than a minimum wage job. Or you can take the temporary route of working two jobs or lots of overtime to save some money. Or you can be a good and competent employee at whatever your job is, and get yourself promoted, even in a McDonald's. Or you can go out and find a better-paying job. And what the hell, today you can even do it playing poker if you are smart and diligent.

It does suck to be broke and for a short while it can be a hard bitch to climb out of it, BUT...it isn't a life sentence or anything. I've been there a few times in my life. I doubt if raising the minimum wage would have a net effect of really helping people much in this regard. The minimum wage will never be raised to a true living wage so what's the point? Save it for students and part-timers, etc. They can use it. And businesses can use the cheap labor.

Nobody in America has to be stuck at minimum wage all their lives. And if businesses have to pay too much more to get help (especially mom & pop type businesses) they'll just decide to work some overtime themselves that summer instead of hiring another student.