TWT:
You almost make it sound like without the minimum wage all the greedy capitalists will force the proletariat to work for slave wages. I too am a student of history and realize the while books like 'The Jungle' pointed out severe injustices to wages, safety, etc. there where already forces like unions, Temperance and pro immigrant groups that were marshaling public opinion to force these businesses to clean up their act. Upton Sinclair was a devout So******t who had another agenda other than trying to help out those in the meat packing business.

There is such a thing as the law of unintended consequences. The majority of people working for minimum wage are High School or Young adults. They benefit from the government forcing business to pay a certain wage when most of the time these kids have little to no experience. This does in fact force businesses to either hire fewer people or do without. Whats wrong with paying a lower wage for someone with little or no experience? Even at a fast food joint, if you have any native intelligence or motivation you can quickly rise up to higher paid positions.

I know the free market is often sneered at, and I am not an advocate of complete 'laissez faire' economics, but don't forget that freedom is the key behind the great economic engines of the world. Besides...if the government is going to set an arbitrary wage businesses must pay, why not make it $50 or $100 per hour? Ridiculous you say? Of course. Companies like Starbucks and others often pay either higher than minimum wage or other attractive benefits to get better people who will provide better service to their customers.