Jacking the MW up higher than the cost of doing the job with automation effectively kills the job. Thinking people understand that. Why do you think you no longer have a teenager come out of the gas station, pump your gas, check your water, oil, and the air in your tires? It's cheaper to put a pump out there for you to pump your own gas and make you responsible to check all the other stuff yourself. That's exactly what's going to happen to other jobs if you jack the MW to $15/hr. You seem to think that would result in a bunch of people suddenly getting a huge raise in their low skill, repetitive, manual labor job. Not so. It would result in a bunch of people first getting cut back to part time, then seeing their jobs replaced by a fleet of robots that work around the clock, never take vacation or sick time, and don't have bad attitudes.