“What is missed in raising the minimum wage is that it often has a ripple effect—SOME UNION CONTRACTS ARE TIED TO THE MINIMUM WAGE!!!”
That’s a good point. What is also missing is the increase in payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare, Federal & State - where applicable - income taxes)...a direct transfer of wealth from an employer, through a patsy, to the government. There is no recouping of the Social Security or Medicare payments via tax returns - it is a direct contribution to the gubmint.
People shouldn’t discount the impact of this side of things; in NYC the city & state were begging the gubmint to pay bonuses to Wall Street people - regardless of whether or not they were merited - so the state & city could take their MILLIONS in income tax from those individuals (even if they were done via gubmint-bailed-out banks). If the taxpayers footed the bill for these payments into the state & city coffers, tough sh!t.