Yeah it is central to America. But let's be real. The northern half of America is too cold in the winter to walk or bike to work, and public transit isn't exactly the best here. I mean, are you really willing to wait on a bus for two hours just to get ten miles to your job? That's how slow public transit is here in america, in some cities. 

In my opinion the minimum wage of 7-8$ is affordable for a single individual. Certainly not for supporting a family - which then raises the question why anyone would pursue supporting a family given those wages.

What I don't want to see if the disciminate application of minimum wage laws where certain industries get higher wages, like fast food industries, and then others dont: https://labor.ny.gov/formsdocs/factsheets/pdfs/p716.pdf This is bullshit if you ask me.

Minimum wage should naturally increase over time due to inflation, but if companies are struggling I can certainly see why adding few more workers for small sized business could have a significant impact.

The minimum wage should be zero. There simply is no sense in setting one at all. If a job doesn't pay enough, don't take it. If a business can't get the workers they need, they'll pay more. Its as simple as that.

There are more people looking for work than there is work that's available, which means that many people will be fighting for work and will be worried about not finding employment, so I guess they are not forced in the traditional sense, but the circumstances don't leave many options.

I can agree with a lot of this, but it's still not slave. If there was no one to work for, you would still have to produce some sort of labor to survive. Get rid of it all and this won't change. I agree there are some scumbag employers (and employees). 

A minimum wage is fine I think, but as you say, there has to be a medium. $3.00 more than the national minimum wage may not be a medium and doubling it certainly isn't.

I live in south Florida..... making around 18 an hour..... and I'm basically in mega debt sustaining car insurance, cell phone bills, food, and health insurance.... altogether it's an easy near a grand a month in bills, and that doesn't include any school expenses and the tax u get for using the highway......

I do think that discussion of the minimum wage should focus pretty much exclusively on where the number should be set. First of all, wherever it is set I think it should be locked to inflation and vary based on cost of living. After that, I personally think around $9/10 makes sense.

I've read through the CBO report on the effects of raising the minimum wage (from 2014 when this was proposed) and while some would lose their jobs (500,000 for a $10.10 federal minimum), many more would see an increase in wages (16.5 million directly and more indirectly). We would see an increase in wages of $5billion (or 3%) for people below the poverty line, raising 900,000 people above that line.

I also think that when it comes to employment, the biggest problem right now is not unemployment but poor employment. Unemployment numbers are pretty darn low and are pretty much in free fall so I think we should largely shift from reducing unemployment to increasing the quality of employment so I think now is as good a time as ever to increase the minimum wage.

https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/113th-congress-2013-2014/reports/44995-MinimumWage_OneColumn.pdf

The minimum wage is exactly that a minimum it's a base line, it job is to give workers a living wage it also means that you have less pressure on government welfare because lowering it means you have less incentive to look for work because if you factor in the loss of govt subsidies on top of what ever unemployment benifit you get  can make it not financially worth while , many small businesses close and open every day and many other factors play a bigger role than minimum wage because it's not like your the only one paying it , the problem to me seems to be that where not talking about a national minimum adult wage that 's what we have in Australia around 18/ 19 dollars an hour being national means every one's on the same page and places like macdonalds can still add to their huge profits while employing juniors.

People don't realize that by paying people a decent wage they will spend it and generate more business and jobs, far more than the wealthy that tend to spend far less as a percentage of their own earnings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wAa9DqHZtM - Asher Edelman (Concept: Velocity of money)

The other thing is with a fine dining resturant you are not going to hire kids. You want some what responsible young adults or adults to deal with customers.  How can he charge so much for food and pay sweet fuck all to people who probably have their own kids.

Perhaps he shoudl ahve moved with the times sand went into that new ballpark village.