I agree $15/hr would really be a bad idea, as far a economical standards would go. $7.25/hr is hard to get by on, it really is. I had to take a pay cut so that I could afford to live in the poverty level, and that was at full $8/hr, but really, I think that $7.25 is a good amount.
What people don't really think about is minimum wage is just that. It's minimum. There was a day when minimum wage was for teenagers, and teens were just a little more responsible. I know that I personaly had much less of a work ethic than my mother, and she less than her father. Theoretically, what happens with minimum wage is that, a younger person enters into the working force, and they work hard, and they advance, and then the more devotion and loyalty to the company they show, the better the pay becomes.
I agree, minimum should be increased. I'm behind it 100%, but really, a minimum job is not exactly what a career is made out of. Hard work and ethics are the cornorstone of what you can build a future on. People who are in a bad situation do need the help. I personally am on welfare, and live in low income housing, but really, I spend most of my time working on getting out of this bad situation. Welfare should be temporary. I also know that no one forced me into my situation. I don't blame anyone but myself. Really, I'm a young mother because I chose to be sexually active at a young age. I didn't go to collage, and I didn't choose to go after jobs that would pay me more. I feel lucky that I have that freedom. What outrages me, is the amount of people who live in my income based apartment complex who don't even bother to try. They sit around, don't work, and don't try to have a job. These people are the one who are making the availability to earn a decent living that much harder.
I'm off of the subject thought. An increase in minimum wage is good. We need to be able to bring more income to those who do work. This should be coupled by welfare reform. I don't have the answer to welfare reform, I don't even come close to knowing what could even dent the damage already done to the system, but really, this is what we need.