My views are a bit mixed on this since I've worked part-time, minimum-wage before... most of us have. The increase in minimum wage will not likely affect us, however, there are certain regions in the country that have higher concentrations of minimum wage workers. A wage hike would most likely affect their cost of living. Most areas in Orange County are hardly indicative of what a minimum wage hike will do to an economy. Everything is rediculously expensive, no matta what.
The problem with it all is that that employers, particularly in the billion-dollar businesses, won't likely take a paycut. Of course, boards of directors could make decisions to run their businesses more frugally (is that even a word?), but minimum-wage isn't the a big determining factor. It's usually an industry-wide change. As much as I don't like a number of Wal-Mart policies, their CEO and other "higher ups" make little in wages compared to their Fortune 500 neighbors (not to mention a few other frugal management moves)... That says a lot for #2 on the list.
You can't easily legislate a "should," and inevitably it leads toward a higher cost of living, because companies are more likely to pass the buck onto us, the consumer. Of course, it's only because we're always so willing to pay the higher price, even after we bitch, scream and moan.
