BTW, no one except government has "abandoned" the Virtuous Circle of economic growth. The MARKET works as 1) businesses produce things consumers want, 2) consumers meet their needs with those products, 3) companies earn a profit, 4) companies invest in their business creating jobs and higher compensation, 5) economic output and efficiency increases so that more/better things can be produced; go back to (1). Employers still do this except government undermines profits, forces higher benefits (still compensation), regulates like crazy and undermines job creation.

The source is Bureau of Labor Statistics data. How many workers would be the tiny fraction of the workforce that actaully earns the legal minimum.

There IS no "need" for a minimum wage law. And anyone repeating the "wage stagnation" canard at this point merely demonstrates he is incapable of doing the most basic research. The FACT is that (exception, of course, recessions), total real compenstaion has continually and substantially increased throughout that entire period. The FACT is that workers are considerably better off than they were in the 1970s and - if government policies were not killing job creation, millions more would be better off as well.

Only a buffoon confuses parody with a lack of originality (which is why you did it). Had you anything resembling critical thinking you would be able to grasp a basic tenet of economics - the interaction of supply and demand. Contrary to economic ignorance and stupidity, EMPLOYERS DO NOT SET WAGES; they are determined by the same interaction of supply and demand that sets ALL prices. Employers compete for labor in the marketplace, which is why even entry level jobs often pay HIGHER than the legal minimum even during a recession. The implications that employers control the labor market and workers get screwed is so disconnected from reality, no one with a brain falls for such complete idiocy.

Few things are more annoying than a LeftWingNut on the internet in his underwear (why seek a job?) condescendingly demonstrating he has no grasp of reality. Here's an idea, FLMC; in fact you can run it by other economic illiterates: As it is such an affront to logic to raise the minimum wage to $9/hr, then let's be REALLY SMART and cut it down to $0/hr!! Not only will it increase unemployment for low-skilled workers but (as anyone with a grasp of reality alreadt knows) overall wages will NOT fall because employers CANNOT PAY BELOW THE MARKET WAGE! The "living in their cars" comment merely demonstrates imbecility.

Again, fire your incompetent fact checker. Very, very few workers make the legal minimum and, overwhelmingly, these are secondary income earners and young people just starting out getting the skills necessary to move up the economic ladder. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement (as is all employment).

The minimim wage is popular among economic illiterates who cannot grasp that it harms the very people it is ostensibly designed to help. And if you really believe that welfare is designed to "help you help yourself" you really need to find a cure for ignorance and naievete. If, in this economy, McDonald's employees (typically making well over the legal minimum) decided to strike, there would be ample applicants to replace them in short order. Go ahead. Try it.

BTW, "organized strikes" have done nothing but undermine tnhe economy - not to mention job creation and worker prosperity. It is no accident that more than a century ago the US became an economic powerhouse (raising the living standards of workers much faster and to a much greater extent) compared to much more unionized Europe. Successful companies create jobs; unsuccessful (often unionized) companies do not.

We need FAR less demagoguing by economic illiterates such as yourself. The stock market is neither more nor less than a market for equity capital that funds businesses (and is ultimately the ONLY source of jobs and higher compensation). It is neither corrupt nor "unmoral". The Luddite nonsense that technology destroys jobs was debunked so long ago, it's amazing anyone still repeats it. TECHNOLOGY CREATES JOBS - always. Only an idiot uses the nonsensical term "wage slave". The only "fair" wage is what the market will bear in a competitive environment - which is what we have. If only government policies were not killing job creation...

BTW, you really need to work on your comprehension skills. He chose the 24% and 33% figures because those are the amount the MW is to be raised and the percentage to get to $10 respectively. And he did NOT argue that wages are the driver of inflation. The Big Mac example was not about wages driving prices but the point that if you raise the price of Big Macs fewer of them will be bought AND if you raise the price of workers fewer of them will be bought (hired). Do try to keep up.

Actually, Steve, you need to try learning something we like to call "basic economics". The economic damage predicted when the minimum wage was raised in the early 1950s ... ACTUALLY HAPPENED. There was a little think called a recession if you'd care to look it up. And pricies are rising so fast because wgaes are A factor, not THE factor; the massive increas ein the money supply by government and profligate government spending are major factors as well. Since the "stagnant wages" myth is only repeated by the ignorant (total real compensation - and overall worker living standards - have continually and substantially increased over that time, perhaps you might look into reality, rather than stake and ridiculous talking points.