As a former business owner in the plastics recycling world, I can attest that business owners do not get fundamentally hurt by increases in the minimum wage.

I had to pay wages pegged to the minimum wage because my industry is (well, was, given recent developments) so competitive with such tiny margins.

I could not pay my employees significantly more than my competitors did or my already small margins would evaporate along with the plastic we were grinding up.

I was always happy when the minimum wage rose because it meant I could pay my workers better and still be on a level playing field with businesses I was competing with. Not that that helped a great deal given the poverty minimum wage imposes.

People who work for a living deserve to be able to afford food, shelter, and a life that includes having a family and raising children. That’s just basic. If we can’t do that as a society, something is fundamentally wrong with us.