They deserve what the market dictates their work is worth.

And right now the market is undervaluing them. You're catching on.

I worked minimum wage jobs in highschool, decided that shit is for the birds, went to college and then grad school and got a well paying job afterward.

And now that you've got one little bit of this fucked-up life figured out, you want to make sure nobody has it better than you did. The last thing you want is for people to think that you -- gasp! -- didn't do it all on your own! Because then you wouldn't be able to judge these people so harshly, which I can tell is one of your favorite things to do. But we both know that's a load of crap. People need help all the time. They're not second-class citizens just because they didn't get the breaks you did.

People stuck in a minimum wage job generally are there because they are too lazy to learn a skill or are reaping the consequences of actions in their past.

LOL what are you basing this on? Nothing! How do you prove someone is "too lazy"?

Minimum wage is the fair wage that the market dictates unskilled workers are deserving of.

AND... it needs to be raised because unskilled workers can't survive on those wages. The "market" is not a perfectly self-regulating organism, I'm sorry to say.

It's not enough to just go to work and go home and expect to have an easy life.

Not enough to you. For others it's just fine. We live in a free country, pal. Get used to it.

Anything worth having takes work to attain.

Nice platitude, but once again, we don't live in a harmonious economy where you are simply rewarded for hard work. People get screwed all the time, people are undervalued all the time. Acting like they're not does not make it go away.

If that's all some people have because they dropped out of highschool and don't have any marketable skills, then yes, I am above those people because I busted ass working full time all throughout college/grad school so that I could have a better paying job.

So you fully confess that you're a douchebag, great. Because that's what douchebags do, they judge people because they think they're better than them. Honestly, who asked you to be the arbiter of who's working hard enough? No one, so give it a rest. Nobody really cares that you "worked your butt off" to get an MBA. I have a Masters degree too, do you see me using it as an excuse to keep people from getting paid? I mean get over yourself.

I put in the effort and gained marketable skills, I get paid better. That's how life works.

Oh you put in the effort, so no one else's effort is good enough. You got a higher education? Congratulations, you did what you were supposed to do! Do you want a cookie? Why do you now want to make life harder for other people? Sociopathic!

I have an MBA and have extensively studied economics for years.

Then why are your arguments completely based on non-factual gut feelings? "everyone who works in fast food is lazy" "anyone who doesn't make enough money doesn't put in enough effort". I believe you're an MBA because you have so much disdain for people of a certain income, but I've met enough MBAs to know that an MBA is no watermark of expertise. You don't sound like someone who's studied economics for years, in other words.

I may not be an expert with a PhD, but don't just assume every redditor is a neckbeard in his mom's basement.

Pal, whatever your degree is, it doesn't automatically qualify you to talk down to people. I'm not going to capitulate just because you give me your resume. I never assumed you were a neckbeard, I assumed you were someone making a decent living at a good job -- because those are always the ones who are the first to whine about a higher minimum wage, as if it's the end of the world.