Minimum wage, let's do this!! :rant on:
The cost of labor should inflate along with the cost of everything else. You're an idiot if you think an unbalanced system can stand forever. The equation must balance. What is done to one side must be done equally to the other. In our system, we have artificially kept the cost of labor extra low for a long time now, and in doing so we have created a mathematical inequality whose difference only increases with furthering inflation. This cannot last. This is instability by the very definition of the word, and if one can actually think about it objectively, without blinders of myopic political standpoints (rethugs, I'm looking at you), it becomes clear that the issue may be at the very root of the faults in our economy which continually threaten our stability.
If you can't wrap your head around the fact that minimum wage needs to be much higher than it stand, I've got some harsh news for you: You're delusional. Absolutely delusional. You're delusional about how much a dollar is worth.
The dollar is not as valuable as it once was. Its value changes daily. If minimum wage (which started very low) had kept up with inflation, it would be $10.74 today. This is fact. No political view (rethugs, I'm looking at you, again) changes this. No clever axiom or though-terminating cliche has any effect on this fact. Anecdotes about your experience with minimum wage are absolutely irrelevant. The cost of labor must consistently reflect the constant state of change in the value of money if the system is to stand.
The cost of a unit of labor must inflate along with the cost of a unit of everything else.
Artificial caps which do not reflect the actual value of money at the time of transaction must become a system of the past, as it is a failed system. No system in which a citizen works full-time, at ANY job (even entry level), and still cannot make the most basic of ends meet can be considered successful. At least not by any civilized metric.
The equation must balance.
