I used to earn minimum wage. Most of us did at one point. My first job, summer of 1989, I earned $3.35/hour. The minimum wage jumped up at the end of the summer to $3.85. I am one of those people that escaped being poor. I grew up mostly poor, not totally impoverished, but poor. I put myself through college without help from my parents. I now have a master's and a good paying career level job. I think the minimum wage argument is a red herring. Really, the way out of minimum wage is education. They should be talking about expanding the Pell Grant and forgiving student loans. If you don't ever get an education you are destined to be at the mercy of the minimum wage. I'm not rich but I will end up better than my parents and I hope that my children will be better off than me.