It seems like a lot of people aren't mentioning the fact that a minimum wage increase cuts both ways. Small businesses must pay more, but low end consumers shou

It seems like a lot of people aren't mentioning the fact that a minimum wage increase cuts both ways. Small businesses must pay more, but low end consumers should now have more money to spend. Raising the minimum from $11 to $15 is a roughly 30% increase that will affect roughly 5% of Americans. The question is, what will those people spend that extra money on? I'm guessing it won't be books, or at least not vintage or trendy books. It will most likely being low end food, clothing and entertainment (mcdonalds, walmart, dvds) and childrens' needs of all varieties. If stores have to raise their prices to cover higher employment costs, then the worst case will be a push for the lowest income Americans. They make 30% more and pay 30% more for most goods. But every walmart/mcdonalds/redbox employee doesn't earn minimum wage and their labor costs don't scale linearly, so the most likely outcome is that those earning minimum wage will get a small effective price break, the middle class will pay slightly more for things and the wealthy will also pay more but not really notice it. Bookstores and other middle class oriented businesses will be forced to close, while businesses that cater to minimum wage workers will see slight profit increases. I'm not sure if this is an ideal situation not, or if it represents an intended or unintended consequence. But under a certain set of assumptions it could be viewed as this particular bookstore closing so that someone who is barely getting by has a few extra dollars to live on each month. It's a shame when any marginal business is forced to meet its fate, but it might be the best thing for the economy over all, or at least for the people who have benefited least from the recent recovery.