Really? $15/hr minimum? How much will McD's need to charge for a burger to keep up with that?
I'm no economist, but it seems to me if the lowest paid jobs make $31k, that higher skill jobs will also rise in salaries as will those jobs even higher up the scale. Soon enough the whole economy changes and suddenly $31k will be just like $20k is now. My Dad raised five kids on $90/wk take-home pay back in the 60's. We never went hungry and had a pretty nice house. Corvettes were very pricey cars at nearly $10k new. And I remember my Dad taking us to an exclusive neighborhood because he heard about a house for sale that was going for $100k and he had to see it. That house is probably valued at $2 mil or more now. So as salaries rise, so does the cost of living. I don't see how paying fast food workers $15/hr is going to solve anything. They'll still be poorly paid once it all evens out.