Overall, I have mixed feelings about this issue. As a former small business owner, I know that wages are the biggest expense in a service business. However, as someone that made minimum wage back in the day, I also know that $7.25 an hour X 2000 hours a year is only $14,500 per year. A minimum wage earner can barely afford housing and food if they don't work two jobs.
I posted the above graph on a forum called "SomethingAwful" a couple of weeks ago during a debate about minimum wage. Surprisingly, I got a mixed bag of responses. Many were supportive of the graph and the suggestion that minimum wage needs to be increased, while the most difficult argument against the graph was whether or not minimum wage was too much relative to living needs in 1979 (and therefore the line didn't need to get back to inflation). I admit, I couldn't back up the graph without doing some serious digging into 1979 living requirements.
If anyone has seen the movie "Thank You for Smoking," you know that you can win a debate without proving you're right, but rather that your opponent is wrong. I guess the debate will continue on.
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