Minimum Wage

I don't think minimum wage falls into that category, as that is just an imposition on the profits of the employer and doesn't come out of my taxes.

Not out of your taxes, but it does come out of your income in the prices you pay. If a minimum wage of, let's say, $30/hour was imposed upon McDonald's ... what options would they have:

• Pay it, maintain the same workforce and not raise prices. I suspect the negative cash flow would bankrupt them within a year.
• Pay it, but seek ways of reducing the onsite staff needed. It would take some pretty remarkable technology to replace what would have to be close to 2/3rds of a restaurant's staff (assuming today they make around $10/hour, a $30/hour wage would imply 2/3 less people).
• Pay it, but raise prices to compensate. If we assume steady demand regardless of price (a poor assumption, but a necessary one for simplicity), we'd probably see $12 Big Macs. I doubt very much their demand is that inelastic.
  

That's what happens when minimum wages are mandated. McDonald's has the capacity to absorb the hit, depending on the magnitude. But many small businesses do not. So they merely shutter up.

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My question to those who advocate a "living wage" -- why stop at $7.50 an hour, which is hardly a living wage? Why not mandate $25/hour, which is about $50K a year?

I never get an answer. That's because they know darn well why minimum wages can't go to $25/hour -- most unskilled jobs aren't worth that, and they'd simply go away the moment a $25/hour wage was mandated.

But advocates of such things have learned one never approaches the apple with one bite in mind. It is far better to incrementally nibble at it.