The minimum wage is arbitrary. It's labor effort that is what matters.
The “Hours of labor” required to purchase anything will eventually stabilize at the exact same level it was prior to an arbitrary increase.
To help a min-wage proponent visualize this, just think of a $75 product, such as a kid's bike, or a watch, or a coffee maker. I chose $75 since it's about 10 times the current minimum wage. You can really think of ANY price range, just be able to determine how many labor hours that is in current minimum wage dollars.
Then simply tell them that this $75 thing will cost $150 soon after the minimum wage increase, and they'll be in the exact same place they were before the minimum wage was increased. They're going to work 10 hours for that bike.
If there's any glimmer in their eye once you explain this, hammer it home with the additional story of how the guy building the bike wants more money too, once they got their “raise”.
Exactly. Currency is just an arbitrary reference for exchange of value so we don’t have to barter. A gallon of gas is worth about 25 minutes of menial labor. Pay someone $60/hr to run the gas station cash register, and soon that gas will cost $25/gal.
Let’s also try this argument, cribbed from I forget where.
A willing employer and a willing employee agree to trade labor for dollars. Both are happy. It is a free market, after all; if either side did not like the deal, there would be no deal.
Except some busybody steps in and raises a stink about the unfairness of the deal. What gave him a right to interfere?