Minimum wage jobs aren't supposed to support you comfortably, let alone a family. There is a reason they are minimum wage jobs, they're unskilled labor jobs that require nothing special from its workers. They're entry-level jobs that aren't supposed to be your life goal, but a place to start. With your experience working at McDonalds you can apply for a job as a waiter at some local restaurant, where you'll make less than minimum wage but tips will put you at more than double minimum wage. With that experience you can either move up to a management position in a few years or switch jobs to a more upscale restaurant where your tips will be bigger and you'll make more profit. Education isn't the only path to success. Furthermore, the economical impact of minimum wage is bad. Jobs that aren't worth minimum wage aren't created, so people are expected to do two or more jobs from their one minimum wage job, and this shrinking of the entry-level job market makes it extremely hard to enter the workforce in this economy. Also, by buffering the wages of entry-level workers you're inflating the value of the dollar because there's more to go around. If workers can only afford to pay $12 for 6 rolls of toilet paper, that's the price it's going to be. If people have more money and can afford $14 for 6 rolls of toilet paper, life got no easier for them despite their "raise." Also, since the people who make those toilet paper rolls are now being paid double their previous wage, the price of the product goes up proportionately. The fact of the matter is that that's how a free market economy works and it's unfortunate for the people at the bottom but that's how life works.
