I have enjoyed this thread and believe most of the relevant points have been made.
I do not support minimum wage, I didn't finish college and never worked for minimum wage . It was like 4.25 when is was in high school and my first job was at an Auto body shop when I was 15 for 5.50 an hour. I worked a summer job refinishing gym floors in college that paid in the 20's and we worked like 60 hour weeks. Anyway I worked in factories, small businesses, and even for temp services for more than minimum wage, and usually got a raise in the first 6 weeks.
Deerejon finally said it about lifestyle choices, I feel the same way!
I have a longtime friend who is older than me, hell his daughter is my age, he works as a farm hand on a local farm. He made 12000 last year. His paychecks were taxed but with such low income he would get it back as a rebate. Now that said he didn't starve, he has no DL as a result of DUI's so he had to rely of family for rides to the store, etc. but he still had tv no cable, cell phone not a smartphone, internet out in the country so satellite, and he always had money for food, beer and other herbal medicine. He did get some perks from his boss like buying meals and rides to and from work
Did he deserve more money for what he was doing? Hell yes he did but he had less options due to his own actions. Many aren't willing to live the lifestyle of their wage, but instead live like they are in a TV show.