the other option is stopping it fully. Wouldn't that make life worse? We'd get jobs offering 50 cents an hour if they got rid of min wage. I dunno. I'm just almost 40 and tired of min wage but can never qualify to work a better job. I'm just end of the year depressed. I get a whole 9 hours of work this week. Yay.....

Just find yourself a sugar daddy and you'll never have to work again. I tried, but Calvin Klein likes them younger then me.. Ugh...

The problem with minimum wage being raised is that it's an easy excuse to jack up prices on everything and small business are forced to play by the same rules as larger businesses. Most people don't get any pay increase but are still affected by the increase to cost of living, while those earning minimum wage do get a small pay increase but the increase to the cost of living just cancels it out. I've known people who were working for a bit over the "minimum wage" to get sodomized by the raise because they were making exactly what the new minimum wage was set to so they went from earning however much over the minimum wage at the time was, to making minimum wage because they didn't even get a raise. Small business owners who only employ a few people also get the shaft. I don't know what, but something needs to be done about our screwed up system so that those of us who are willing to make an effort can afford to live without so much worries.

Edit for addition:

And it seems like they do everything possible to hold us down. I'm in college because I spent 5 years trying to find a way to survive but could never catch a break. Now I'm going to be neck deep in student loan debt when I finish... and to be honest, even with good gpa and a degree in engineering, the future just ain't lookin too pretty right now.

Simple economics really. When the cost to manufacture, transport and market an item goes up the sales price goes up.
Raise minimum wage and the cost of those employees is passed along to the consumer in raised price for the goods or services produced by those employees.
The same applies to Taxes on businesses, raise the taxes and the business has to raise its prices or lower it's overhead by letting employees go or lowering their pay.

All great replies.

You know, I thought about truck driving but I'm TERRIFIED. I mean, if the brakes go out, or trying to back up or just.... anything like that. I'd be SO scared - and yet I see that gal who was on the Ice Road Truckers show (if you saw that) and wish I had the cahones like she does/did.

But yes, I always see ads for OTR and so on, but as I said. I'm terrified to be in charge of something that huge. Mostly the brakes going out or having to back up, etc. :/ I'd fear I'd bring a new label to 'woman drivers'. >_>

I tried the college thing: 2.5 years working on my bachelors and my loans ran dry this last summer of '12. So til I repay that 50k it currently is, I can't return.

Til I get my license back (which I have written about many times on here as well as my 'cashed a work check which later turned out to be forged so I have a misdemeanor for theft now and not many will hire me', I'm kinda stuck. The license is about 9k to get back sadly. No, never drove drunk or anything like that. Just a few no insurance/suspended tix which over time grew huge from interest. At 8.25/hr and max 20 to 25 hrs a week, that will be far in coming. I'm taking it day by day which is all we can do really.