Ya gotta love the thinking in the this Buffalo News Editorial (linked at bottom):

The federal government has minimum wage laws.

NYS government has decided that the federal minimum wage "is not enough". Therefore, that have passed their own state minimum wage law that sets the wage higher than the feds.

Because of this state law, and many others like it, NYS costs are more than the national average, making it more expensive to do business there, and dissuading companies from moving or expanding there.

So what is the News' proposed solution to NYS' costs being higher than other states?

You guessed it - force the other states to raise their rates so that they are just as high as NYS!

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051121/1014106.asp

They raised them in Florida just recently. Here's a chart for the Country:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

Classic. NYS passes a law that makes it less competitive...so it's the federal government's fault NY is less competitive because they didn't pass a law to redress the imbalance NY created in the first place.

I live on the New York- P.A. border. I don't think we will see too many competitive
issues with companies that need to pay minimum wage- because let's face it- there are very few companies contemplating moving to NYS where minimum wage is a deal buster. But I do see what you mean.

The real issue is whether on not one believes that there should be a minimum wage to begin with and if the government has the authority to mandate one in a somewhat free market society. If it is indeed ok for a government to institute a minimum wage then why isn't it $10-15 bucks an hour?

Another question I've always had: it's always been said that we need immigration (and illegal immigration) for workers to do the jobs Americans supposedly don't want to do and it's implied that they work below minimum wage. Doesn't that make the concept of minimum wage a farce?

Ding, ding. Give that man a hot Krispy Kreme.