Economics 101 indeed. Just where do they think the $15 per hour money is supposed to come from? The problem is that those who want the increase only know that money is some kind of printed paper that allows them to get stuff. They have no inkling of what it is, how they get it, and where it comes from.

The real problem is what goes on upstream. For example, I will hire a person with a high school degree as a dental assistant and train her myself. With a minimum wage of $15, people in that job will expect much higher wages than my practice income will allow. When minimum wage goes up, people's expectations of wage levels rise as well. So fast food joints aren't the only businesses affected.
Also, I have read that many union job wages are tied to minimum wage, as in 3 times, etc

“As minimum-wage hikes become mandatory, Wendy’s looks to expand self-service kiosks.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2...

CONGRATULATIONS, OBAMA!

Now you can launch your jihad against the “greedy capitalist corporations” AND CONVENIENTLY FORGET THAT THIS IS ALL YOUR OWN DAMNED FAULT!

The poor fools who thought the $15 per hour wage was going to mean the good times will roll forgot something: When it gets too expensive to hire and retain people, businesses will go to automation!

This will be a huge pain for me, because I flatly refuse to use those self-checkout lanes at Walmart—they are a real pain in the a$$ as far as I am concerned, and I JUST WON’T USE THE DAMNED THINGS!

But when ALL of the clerks have been laid off and the only people left are a few store dicks to watch the entrance and exist doors to make sure nobody’s shoplifting, and the store manager and one or two assistants to do the bean-counting, THEN I GUESS I AM WELL AND TRULY $H*T OUT OF LUCK! What am I going to do when the automated self-checkout gizmo screws it up? Wait until a bean-counter can come down from the offices and try to fix it? Like, about an hour or two later?

And what about the poor schmucks who got laid off and can’t get another job? Will everybody be on welfare then? Seems like what those bastards want—SO WE’LL ALL BE UTTERLY DEPENDENT ON THOSE STINKING POLITICAL HACKS!

Thanks a lot, Obama!

Thousands of years ago when the someone hooked a stick to a horse and replaced 5 guys with sticks, productivity has always been the driving force. The $15/hour forced wage just continues this story. When you can find a way to produce goods and services better and cheaper, then you do that.

Maybe it will become so expensive that people start eating healthier food.

I welcome the kiosks. I am tired of the current crop of useless clerks who cant even concentrate on me long enough to translate my verbal messages to their computer system and get my order right !! I dont really want to interact with humans at fast food or sit down restaurants anymore. Paying them $15 an hour would disgust me so much I wouldnt patronize them anymore.

I was thinking of writing "Economics 101" here before I clicked the link and saw it mentioned in the second line of the article.
I took the college course in the late 60s, but it does not even require a high school education to go figure that forcibly skyrocketing the minimum wage will force companies to cut back on jobs.

Yes they need to keep the disgusting amount of profit the same or more!

Why not include this? http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&...

Don't worry. As the Fed keeps inflating the money supply, the value of the $15 will drop until it makes sense to hire trainees at $15/hr.

Already happened. Gone are the low paying starter positions one used to get, so you could "learn the business" and work your way up. Currently I cannot afford to hire people as trainees - which means when the workforce that has training dries up, there will be no one to replace them. Stockboys(and girls), Shop rats, Copy girls (and boys) at newspapers - we're already seeing the demise of news as a job avenue because no one has the talent or skill to become copywriters, reporters, or editors.

We're "increased-minimum-waging" ourselves out of existence, and handing our propriety to foreign countries that don't have such stupid, elitist entitlement laws. $15 an hour? Good luck with that - you should be making that already, having gone beyond a "minimum wage" job years ago.