And you base your statement upon what statistical or scientific evidence?
Generally, people tend to cut back on eating out first when they try to save money, then luxuries like car washes, etc. - i.e. discretionary spending. Do you think that Starbucks will continue to make their same profit if they have to increase the payout to the employees? Where is the tipping point where they decide to close the less profitable stores, and when they need to cut some benefits?
Now we can get to the core of your statements. You consider that going from $7.25/hr to $10/hr is reasonable for minimum wage. From earlier statements, you also mentioned tying pay increases to the rate of inflation. That is what the Democratic Congressmen John Conyers, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Dennis Kucinich introduced as a plan back in June of 2012. The “Catching Up To 1968 Act of 2012” would bump the minimum wage up from $7.25 an hour and require an annual increase tied to inflation.
Are you sure that you aren't a Democrat?
President Barack Obama promised to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011. How did he do on keeping that promise?
Poverty | Change.gov: The Obama-Biden Transition Team
Lower income people are definitely more likely to spend any increase in income, rather than save it. There is no question about that. What they will spend it on though is another matter. There is no one saying that fast food workers will spend it on fast food. They are highly likely to spend it in their local economy - I think that we can agree on that. Stores that sell low cost items, like dollar stores, would likely benefit from an increase in minimum wage, even though they have to pay out more to their employees.
As for a real benefit, in 2012, 1.6 million people in the country made minimum wage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2 million were paid below minimum wage, and that is a total of 3.6 million workers - less than 5% of the total work force.
Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2012
So, how much of an economic stimulus would you gain by increasing the minimum wage?
More importantly, let's note that about 11 percent of part-time workers (persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week) were paid the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 2 percent of full-time workers. This year, with Obamacare coming, companies created 4 times more part-time jobs than full-time jobs - and that's a new trend, and a major flip-flop from last few years. You support the program that is helping create more of these minimum wage jobs, and just want to pay them more? How is that sustainable?
I think that I need to be clear here - I am not against raising the minimum wage, just against the government making quick, drastic changes to private industries when the current economic situation does not call for it, unlike the undereducated fast food workers who are calling for it. McDonalds does not have an obligation to support a family of 8 for the work of 1 person flipping burgers or manning a cash register. Do you understand that a "living wage" is not the same as minimum wage?