Change in policy? I suppose technically that's true, but really it depends on what you call change. I call the Federal minimum wage failing to keep up with inflation a covert, passive erosion of an existing policy. I don't know anyone who'd accept having the real value of their wage erode over time, but that's exactly the situation for minimum wage workers.

Besides, my statement was "there is no reason we can't do better than the federal minimum we have now." For many states, this wouldn't even be a change in policy, because many have higher than the minimum wage now. I just think it's disgusting that, with all of the productivity gains we've had since the 1960s, people are getting 2/3 of what they were paid back then in real terms. That is unconscionable.

Including [sic] to denote original errors is pretty standard procedure when quoting someone. We all make typos, so I didn't think it would be taken personally. I sincerely apologize.

I don't think I'm smarter than anyone, but I'm damned certain that I'm making more logical arguments than you are. You just tried to tell me that your one very sketchy data point is enough to repudiate many studies and meta-studies cited by the paper I linked to of the real effects of minimum wage laws in the U.S. That's an insult to everyone's intelligence, and either demonstrates bad faith on your part, or a complete inability to judge evidence. Nobody can step outside of their ideological bias, but if all I had was one data point on my side, I'd go do some Googling and bring something better to the table.

Look, it's entirely possible that my first principles are wrong and yours are right, but the logic you're employing to get from your first principles to the point you are trying to make is just very poor. I get that you're a Hayekian free market type, so you're not going to be receptive to any argument that involves the government telling employers what to do, but you need better evidence than you've presented. I can assure you that if you have such evidence I will take it seriously, but as it is now, I read you as just not wanting to do the homework required to support your points, choosing instead to shout "QED" repeatedly.