there has been a steady decline of the middle class which began with the decline of the labor movement. People bemoan the loss of "good manufacturing jobs " as if there is something magical about manufacturing jobs. It was unions that turned those jobs into good jobs. There were manufacturing jobs before unions but back then they were known as sweat shop jobs and people worked 10 hours a day six days a week, that was a 'standard work week'. I have an old calendar dated 1914 and it is telling that it only has 1 red day a week, that being Sunday. There was no such thing as a weekend before unions fought for the 40hr work week. Companies cried about how they couldn't afford to pay full wages for only 40 hours a week instead of the "normal" 60! They would go out of business and everyone would loose their jobs!
Well, of course that didn't happen, and the greatest middle class there has ever been was created. Now we are seeing the same thing with the push for $15 an hour. The claims that $15 an hour will ruin business are lies and anyone fooled by these claims only work to destroy what is left of the middle class. The manufacturing jobs that went overseas aren't good jobs anymore, they're sweat shop jobs again!
The point is, it doesn't matter if the job is manufacturing cars or hamburgers, it should still pay a living wage. Any business that makes profits while its workers live in poverty deserves to fail. Even if the cost of labor were to increase $6 from $9 to $15, it would not make prices skyrocket. Labor is only one component of the total cost, there is also raw materials, land and permanent assets (building and such), transportation, advertising, executive salaries, and of course profits. If the price of a burger goes from $5.00 to $5.25 no one will stop buying burgers but all those people who got a raise will become much more self sufficient. They won't need government handouts. They will have cash to spend in the economy which will then grow faster. Businesses will benefit, not be hurt.
When everyone does better, everyone does better!