The US Minimum wage ought to be raised substantially.

My apologies to Pro and the readers. I won't sully the argument with excuses. The US Minimum wag should not be substantially raised. Economic Reasons The reasons for this are, largely, economic. For one, as anyone who has studied basic economics knows, when you set a floor of a price, it creates a gap between supply and demand. Labor is a supply that workers create as demand for labor increases. For example, if you are offered a job at 40 hours per week at $10 per hour, you would agree to give your time as labor or search for a better offer. Employers set their demand based on the amount of labor they require to create products demanded. When demand for a product is high, demand for labor is also high to create the product, as well as the inverse. A good example of this can be found here: https://www.boundless.com... (I'm not sure how to post graphics, I apologize.) MOST MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS WORK FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS Labor costs are one of, if not the largest source of cost for any business. Fast Food franchises are hardly an exception, and spend between 30-35% of their costs on average on salary alone (1) Mostly, fast food "restaurants" employ minimum wage workers. These are largely franchises who pay a fee to the corporate structure to license their name and buy their food from them. They make, on average, $50k per year (2). A $1 increase per hour per unit of labor would increase the cost drastically. A Forbes article calculated that a franchise owner would lose approximately $20k per year from a $1 increase in cost (3). THE AVERAGE MINIMUM WAGE WORKER IS NOT SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR HOUSEHOLD INCOME About 3% of workers over the age of 25 make the minimum wage or less (not counting tips for tipped workers, such as servers or valet). This undoubtedly accounts for much of the lack of strong evidence of minimum wage effects on the economy as a whole. It is also worth mentioning that those receiving Social Security benefits are capped at how much money the are allowed to make before financial penalties kick in (4). Pro's argument will rely on data from some noted economists (Krugman et al) that purports to show no negative consequences to employment, or at best no consensus. However, a literature review conducted by Neumark and Wascher (5), shows that most analysis are borderline negative at best. True, there is no clear consensus, but, at a time of record unemployment and instability in the low-skill market, is it wise to add more instability? Also, it must be mentioned that, while employment numbers alone may not be calculated discernibly negatively, overall economic factors, such as hours worked, raises, benefits, prices of product, etc are often negatively impacted (6). With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), small business owners are already eyeing their bottom line and considering whether or not they can afford to hire. 48% in a survey said they have frozen hiring and 19% have reduced their number of employees as a direct result (7). It is important to note that many of the studies showing lack of elasticity at minimum wage levels for employment are conducted during the 1990's and mid 2000's, both times of economic expansion. When economic conditions for growth are already small or stagnant, anything that could slow the pace of growth is not necessarily a good idea. MINIMUM WAGES DO NOT ACCURATELY REFLECT VARIANCE IN COST OF LIVING. The cost of living varies wildly by location in the US. The most extreme examples are comparing Manhattan, NY to Harlingen, TX, the most and least expensive places to live by average cost of living. The cost is nearly triple (8). Considering the poor pay a significantly higher portion of their income on housing and utilities, it makes sense that adjustments to the cost of living should correlate to any minimum wage (9). ANY MINIMUM WAGE SHOULD BE DONE ON THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL As my previous point alludes to, contrary to Pro, I believe in minimum wages being set at the municipal level, based on local cost of living. If minimum wage is set to $10, it won't cover basic minimum in New York, but will be more than enough for significant disposable income in Texas. This is not a major point of my argument, but more to show my point of view. In conclusion to opening salvo, I emphasise that, in a wildly varied economic society, national minimum wages will stifle economies in poorer areas while not contributing to economies in larger ones. I hope voters will get past my 1st round snafu and accept my argument for what it truly is. Vote Con 1: http://www.cbsnews.com... 2: http://work.chron.com... 3: http://www.forbes.com... 4: http://www.ssa.gov... 5: ftp://ftp.iza.org... 6: http://www2.gsu.edu... 7: http://www.cnbc.com... 8: http://money.cnn.com... 9: http://www.businessinsider.com...