Democrats pushing for national minimum wage to $15 / hour.  Be careful what you wish for.

This is smart politically by Democrats because they will force the GOP to come out against raising the minimum wage, so optically its a bad headline for GOP, especially in these times of rising income inequality.

Economically, I think we have to be very careful with raising the minimum wage. I am not saying that it shouldn't happen, but there is an elasticity limit.

At a certain point, companies simply reduce workers' hours or eliminate positions all together or the companies raise their prices for goods to offset the new costs (which also doesn't help consumers).

So I would look to areas that have raised minimum wage and see if this has triggered any new corporate behavior before making a blanket decision for the entire country.

The better way to get wage growth is to have a work force that can be employed in higher paying jobs by more appropriate education and training for the future.