Shibboleth — You made the false argument that “These notions here are why the US business environment has been suffering as our companies are put at competitive disadvantages to companies in less restrictive countries.” This argument is BS because these businesses are local and are not competing with any other business that does not have the same labor rates.

The minimum rate is a blanket rate that all must pay. If one business needs to raise prices to cover labor costs, so does all of your competition. If paying the minimum is too expensive for a business then they are poorly run.

I own a business and no employee makes less than double minimum wage. If you want quality workers pay them a fair wage.