This is a typical strawman argument. Poor democrats have been voting Democrat forever and they are still poor Democrats so they use the old standby of "let's engage in class warfare and blame those rich republicans". Not the ultra rich democrats mind you, only those fat cat republicans. Read a bit about it and you'll see why there are people on both sides of the fence who are opposed to the raise.
And before you call me a tea bagger or some other inane colloquialism I'm neither republican or democrat. They are both crooks that wipe themselves with the documents they purport to defend.
Roughly 2.3 percent (one reference showed it as high as 4.7%) of hourly workers make the "minimum wage". That means for that 2.3 percent (to 4.7%), assuming they are working a 40 hour work week, are making roughly $15,100 a year. That is a big assumption because obamacare has made many employers cut their employees hours under 30 so they don't have to pay the obama tax.
Now if we raise the minimum wage to the proposed $9.00 an hour the earner now makes roughly $18,700 a year, again assuming that they aren't limited to under 30 hours a week due to obamacare fees.
Is that going to solve the problem? No way. As a matter of fact as businesses normally do they will raise the prices of things like happy meals and groceries to make up for the extra money they have to spend. This will raise the prices for the people who just got a bump in pay. They will also cut their work force to make up for the extra cash outlay.
So let's just bump everyone to $15.00 an hour, right? Makes sense. Then the earners in an entry level job will be making double what they are now. And the businesses will just take it in stride and not raise the prices of products right?
Wrong. Two things will happen. Employers will lay off employees and prices will go up in every industry affected.
Here's another point of view by Don Boudraeux;
"If government enacts legislation setting the minimum price that people can pay for a new car at $50,000, do you believe that this legislation will result in people paying $50,000 for the likes of Toyota Corollas and Ford Fiestas? Or do you realize that if government obliges car buyers to pay at least $50,000 for a new vehicle, these buyers will choose to buy no low-end cars and opt (if they buy a new car at all) instead to purchase a new BMW, Lexus, or other luxury model?"
If a company has to pay 15 an hour for a worker do you think he's going to hire the people that they currently have working for them or more qualified people? Who would you hire? I'm hiring the guy who graduated from college with a human studies degree who has no hope of using it to become gainfully employed over someone without a HS degree. I guess I'm just a dick that way.