Unfortunately increasing the minimum wage only masks the true issues. The issue is not minimum wage, it never has been.

Only 5% of Florida's workers are to see a rise in pay as a direct result of increase. These are the workers making between 5.15 to 6.14 in hourly pay. But what about the employee who started at minimum wage to only find their wage has become minimum wage yet again? Most employers will increase this wage to adjust for this factor. And then adjust their other worker's pay accordingly as well.

And to pay for these increases, whatever goods and services they provide will be increased as well. Because I can guarantee you that the company is not going to lose profit here. So because of this increase my 99 cent Whopper, Jr. will most likely now be a $1.25. That $20.00 dollar skirt at Gap? 23.50. So the people who are still making less than everyone else are still going to have just as much spending capital that they did before. Wage increases in this manner do not equate in increased overall net worth.

Now this is where I am going to say something that is true but not very popular:

There is always going to be a minimum wage. Someone is always going to make more than others, while some are always going to make less.

Some people are always going to have more than others, and why is this a bad thing?

We work to get paid and our labor is valued upon what the market agrees to pay for it. No matter how much we would like our waiters and retailers and our fast food clerks to be able to make a lot of money, in their current jobs, it is not possible. These jobs do not require much training or experience to develop the adequate level of expertise to perform the job. The people performing these jobs are expendable and the market does not value their worth. Joe can do the job that Maria did yesterday, then Joe can be replaced by Jon.

You certainly can't convince me that there is no opportunity to do better in this country than minimum wage. Too many people have risen from ghettos to become professionals, or were essentially homeless and attended Ivy league schools. Yes, some have a harder time than others, but essentially this is the life we are dealt with, this is the life we are accountable for. No one that is born with a reasonable intelligence level has no excuse of not doing something for themselves. Even if it is completing high school and studying and achieving good grades. Even if it is working minimum wage jobs to pay for schooling or technical training. These are not things that are beyond the reach of most of us. The public education system for most is adequate enough to reasonably educate if you are willing to take the responsibility for that education.

As long as the opportunity is available through hard work and education for you to do better, then why do we have to subsidize your failure to take advantage of that opportunity?