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Wages should be an agreement between the employer and employee. Gov’t at any level shouldn’t be involved.

Did you not read my qualifier? We are not a nation of libertarians/free market conservatives who are going to abolish the minimum wage any time soon. By making it a state-level thing, NY, MA and CA can further mess up their economies until they FORCE themselves back to reality. States and cities with high costs (NYC, CA) tend to have a meaningless minimum wage anyway, as even the Taco Bell has to pay more to get employees. Places like North Dakota, where there is a boom, also are paying much higher than minimum wage. It does hurt low cost areas like the deep south. If it is a state by state thing, a free market state can make the minimum wage $1/hour, which would mean none at all.