This may seem counter-intuitive, and that is why the conservative economic policies always seem to be at odds with the facts. What happens here is that you can hire a better employee for $15 than you can hire for $8. The employee will work harder, be more loyal, have better attendance, and stay with you longer. Those things are all good for business. And even poor employees suddenly care about their job a lot more at $15 than they did at $8.
But when you have the business next door paying $8, it is really hard to have the courage to make to move. The minimum wage eliminates the bottom feeder problem. The higher floor allows everybody to do the right thing without fear of being undercut by people who have no commitment to the community and are just looking to squeeze every nickel of short-term profit they can.
And if this living wage means that Taco Bell and Burger King lose business to more local restaurants with more wholesome menus, that is a good thing.
The same thing happens with the CAFE fuel economy standards for cars. None of the car makers wanted to invest the money needed to deliver higher fuel economy when their competitors were allowed to keep selling wasteful polluting old designs. But when the CAFE standards mean that EVERYBODY has to move forward together, in a remarkably short period of time, our cars are twice as efficient. This is good for everybody. The manufacturers are more profitable and consumers get a better product for the money. And as an added bonus, the national reduction in fuel usage lowers the price of gasoline.
Nobody wants government involved in every aspect of our lives, but there are places where government has to step in and say "We will have a level playing field, and that field will be at a level that benefits the nation at large."
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