People need to start grinding and stop complaining.

Raising the minimum wage for the sake of raising the minimum wage is just another way of perpetuating the ‘something for nothing’ notion that has taken grip on our society. The fact of the matter is, minimum wage pay is given for minimum wage skills. I’ve worked in many fields, food service, retail, sales, labor, and government and I can say from firsthand experience that the lower the requirements of the job, the lower your pay. This is why we go to school -- to raise our skill set to get a higher paying job. Imagine this scenario, you go into debt funding your four year education so you can get an entry level position at your dream job paying $15.00/hr. You go to lunch and the guy flipping burgers or manning the fry station makes the same amount with no student loans. Does that seem fair?  I started working my first job when minimum wage was $5.15/hr. I worked hard and in turn was given a raise. This happened several times until I was well above the minimum. There’s no reason I should have been making over $10.00/hr for the job I was doing. I worked hard, but the skills required were minimal and rightly so was the pay.

The issue itself lies in the fact that people do not want to work for their money. Most would rather have things handed to them. If the issue was really about not getting paid enough, the people would find a better paying job or get a second one. Before you say “but Rob, there’s no jobs out there” I’m going to have to call BS. The person could always join the military. Starting salary for a brand new E-1 Private straight out of basic training is $1,546.80 a month. More if they’re married, and more still if they have kids. Most don’t do this though, because they would rather not have to work hard to get paid. "What if I don't want to join the military? There's no jobs locally!" Once again, BS. Within one month of moving to Austin, I found a job paying over minimum wage and I still get calls from employers trying to hire me. 

My colleague mentions that raising the minimum wage will urge people such as drug dealers to get jobs. I disagree. If a drug dealer is making more than minimum wage working their own hours, not having to pay taxes, and getting welfare checks in the mail then why would they work? The money is too good to actually want to make something of themselves. There’s no incentive to do anything else.

"Some say we shouldn't raise minimum wage because it wouldn't help the lowest wage earners because they often are incompetent of doing anything better for themselves than low paying jobs anyway."

I feel quite the opposite way, actually. I fully believe that anyone can overcome their position by themselves with hard work and perseverance given the right motivation. I did it, and I'm certainly nobody special.