As much as I would have liked to have more money while I worked in retail, I wouldn't have deserved it.

It's a low skill job that has no need for a high paying motivated worker to perform. You just need a monkey who can clean things. It doesn't deserve 15$ an hour.

I think the ones who don't want the minimum wage to go up don't want to hurt the low skilled labor force.

15$ an hour would essentially force all labor costs to double with no increase to the quality of that labor force. Jobs that you don't need to be sober or even be capable of communicating with your customer base would suddenly have those spots be vacated by many of their current occupants. Companies would be more stringent in their hiring and strict with infractions to prevent raises. Why keep less than stellar employee when we are now paying well enough for competent motivated and decently skilled people who are now lining up to get that wage.

Now many of those we were trying to help pay rent don't have work. The world doesn't magically get better when you throw money at the poor.

At every retail store I worked at (and all the ones my old college friends currently work at), the place was filled with entitled children, drug addicts, criminals, and the hopeless. With the exception of some of my management staff, they all had no desire to do anything but wish for more money. They didn't want to work more shifts when others bailed, they didn't want come in early/stay late for more hours, and they didn't want to go to school to gain skills.

They all just watched the clock and walked away from any and all challenges in front of them to drown themselves in booze or drugs. I am sure not everyone is like these groups I have encountered, but this does not need to be encouraged. If these people I knew didn't waste their money on vices (heavily taxed), expensive meals, and luxury items every paycheck, I'd have seen many of them crawl their way out of poverty and into better paying jobs. Giving them more money per hour will not help any of those people, I am inclined to believe that it would hurt more than it could possibly help.