I hear this "What if the minimum wage was raised to some ridiculous amount" argument from conservative people all the time. (I think they parrot it from conserv

I hear this "What if the minimum wage was raised to some ridiculous amount" argument from conservative people all the time. (I think they parrot it from conservative AM radio talk show hosts) That is a loaded question. The minimum wage does not have to be increased to some ridiculous amount, but it does have to be high enough to keep the people off of government benefits. Additionally, if raising the minimum wage by a modest amount causes a business model to crash and burn, then that's a flaw which needs to be corrected. Maybe that business model wasn't so robust after all? If a business depends on an exploitative minimum wage to be profitable, that business needs a new business model. If that means more automation and robotics, so be it. It is not good public policy to pay exploitative wages that force employees to go on government assistance at the expense of the taxpayers.