answer:The argument in favor of raising the minimum wage has nothing to do with fast food workers specifically. It has to do with the following idea: anyone who works full-time should be making enough money to support themselves. It also has to do with modern economic realities, specifically the fact that it is not just entry-level jobs that pay minimum wage anymore. Furthermore, many positions that are considered to be entry-level jobs are effectively not because the people above are not moving up or out. And this is where the fast food workers come in: many have been working what others consider an entry-level position for years while trying to make ends meet. They have not been offered promotions. They have not been able to find jobs that pay better, and frequently have to take second or third jobs just to reach subsistence levels of income (which may still be below the poverty line). Given how starkly at odds this is with American ideals—that whole “work hard and you will succeed” thing, sometimes called the American Dream—people understandably want something to change. Raising the minimum wage seems to many the obvious solution. And in response to arguments about inflation, the common response is “the whole reason we’re in this mess is because inflation already happened and wages weren’t increased to compensate for it.” You might disagree. I’m sure plenty of people will come in and give us their armchair economic analysis about why they don’t think this will work. But anyone who just throws around inflammatory rhetoric without responding to the actual arguments is being a dishonest interlocutor. So there’s the argument. Have at it. As a side note, I always find it interesting to see how fixated people get on the fact that it’s fast food workers asking for a living wage. The intense need some people feel to make sure “those people” know their place is highly revealing. We are talking about human beings here. And yet, it seems there are plenty of people who are ready to argue that they somehow do not deserve to be able to meet their basic needs. They’re not even asking for free stuff. They are asking for the ability to make a living by trading their labor for money. You know—capitalism.