>If nothing else, the relationship between productivity and pay has been broken. Used to be when productivity increased, so did wages. That stopped around 1980.

Important context here....when costs are controlled. If our president is going to start channeling Henry Ford (as he did in the SOTU speech), he needs to present the entire picture. (And certainly businesses share in the responsibility of reengineering to stay competitive. My point is that the government is making this harder).

Right now, in this entire discussion at the national level on minimum wage, the 600 lb elephant in the room is the AHCA. One of the major reasons for his push on the minimum wage is to offset the reduction in hours and employment status caused by his signature health care legislation. Even the Dept of Labor has acknowledged some of this!

If anyone doesn't believe this, look at the very exchange between Obama and a citizen in Wisconsin during Friday's Google Hangouts Exchange. The citizen worked in fast food and had his hours cut from FT to 28 a week because of the increased costs to his employer. Obama's response ignored the negative consequences of his health care law, and instead promoted the increase in minimum wage.

Sure....28 hours a week at $10.10 is so much better than 40 hours a week at $7.25 ??? I'm not saying the minimum wage shouldn't change. But doing it for the wrong reasons isn't going to help.

This is another case where our current president either remains unattached from, or fights against, his very own policies. Raising the minimum wage to offset ramifications of his own policies have one real object - improving the chances of his own party in the next election.