I feel as if this were true, there would be studies (academic ones--I don't trust the news sites or the blog sites) every time minimum wage has been increased (multiple times, over multiple decades) with strong evidence that small business owners would be able to use to support the argument.

::a few minutes later::

Here's a paper that's sort of meta and covers arguments for/against min wage over several decades. It's an interesting read, but is pretty inconclusive in supporting either side strongly.

https://www.princeton.edu/~tleonard/papers/minimum_wage.pdf

Here's another one, I haven't read it fully: http://web.stanford.edu/class/econ101c/class2.pdf

I don't disagree that some unemployment might come out of it. Both papers also agree on that, although neither seem to come to the conclusion that it's super-large, or not influenced by lots of other factors. I do believe the labor market has a lot of difficult-to-measure variables so some of the effects you won't see until they happen. The papers also seem to support that. (I know it's hard to see, but those are the first two academic papers my google search brought up, so I've not cherry-picked them. They just both conclude it's a really fucking hard thing to predict.)

I think, given we come from two very different life situations, it will be difficult for me to "convince" you because we both inherently value different things, and have our lives supported on different sides of the employer/employee relationship.

I'm a writer and IT person, and as such I've investigated freelancing, which is essentially a small business. I have great respect for small business people. And I know it's very hard work, and some people just don't have the right skills to carry it off. I have chosen not to go into freelancing at this point, although I intend to in the future (by publishing a novel).

But, I also feel a small business will live or die due to its business plan (just like my novel will live or die by its worth). Businesses that have flawed plans (see: dot com boom!) will die. I don't think a business with a flawed plan dying is very sad, I think this weeding out of "weak" businesses is just a part of capitalism.

And I also wonder at the business plan of a business that can't pay its workers a livable wage. Why is the margin so low? Can inefficiencies be corrected to compensate for a higher wage? Is the business doing a Walmart and paying shareholders and CEOs wild salaries and other benefits that don't really need to be that high? If not...did you really create a business that depends on workers not being able to make a living while devoting 40 of their time to your project when they will never see bonus profits from it on bumper years, or anything unless the business owner decides to give it to them? (And don't most business owners "put it back into the business" if there's extra, instead of sharing with workers?) Very few small businesses share profits like that. I just have problems with the idea that someone can give away years of their life that they won't get back, and not be able to make a living. Not even a wild living...just, you know, pay their bills, and have a family they can come home to and find comfort in.

But obviously I don't own a small business yet. And my personal income isn't dependent on one.