system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I believe increasing the minimum wage would almost single handedly get us out of recession CMV

EDIT: "would almost single handedly fix our economy" would have been a better summary. I don't think we're technically in a recession.

Our current minimum wage is at a historic low considering inflation, and many people are forced to live below the poverty line or work multiple jobs just to get by. Increasing the minimum wage would put more money in the pockets of the millions (I'm guessing at this) of people that work in such jobs. Of course, a lot of this money would go into savings accounts, but a lot of it would also get spent right away and go right back into the economy. It's better for it to be in the savings account as of individuals than those of large corporations like McDonald's and Wal-Mart, which will either hoard the money or give it to their already wealthy shareholders who won't necessarily increase their own spending.

Sure, there would be layoffs and some small businesses might close, but you could argue that those businesses were poorly run or based on an unsustainable model if they require their employees to live in poverty or work multiple jobs.

My last opinion is that we need minimum wage to adjust every year with the poverty line. Having a minimum wage that requires new legislation in order to change results in the stagnant wage we have now, and makes it easier for large corporations to manipulate it by putting money in the pockets of politicians.

Change my view. :-)
gpt
If your goal was to put money into the hands of those in poverty, why tie it to employment at a minimum-wage job? Is there something special about minimum-wage jobs? Why not just give people in poverty money, no strings attached, through a negative income tax?

You list out (and downplay) several perceived disadvantages with raising the minimum wage. Some jobs might go away. Some businesses might close. These directly represent damage to the economy, undermining part of your entire point for enacting a minimum wage in the first place. A negative income tax has none of these drawbacks. We could even probably adjust our income taxes such that it's cheaper for corporations to have a negative income tax for the poor than it is to have a higher minimum wage.

Basically, raising the minimum wage is an inefficient way to fix the problem. We can do better, easily.