"Minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation. Debt financed consumption."
You're right that minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation. You're also right that debt financed (a lot of) consumption. But it doesn't follow that those earning minimum wage drove consumption by acquiring debt.
As yummyfajitas links above show, those earning minimum wage are a tiny percentage of overall wage earners. In other words, minimum wage earners aren't going to move the needle much. Double minimum wage (and magically don't have that affect employment levels) and consumption isn't going to go up all that much, simply because there aren't that many people earning minimum wage. For that reason, it is a bit of a silly metric to base an argument on.
You're right that minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation. You're also right that debt financed (a lot of) consumption. But it doesn't follow that those earning minimum wage drove consumption by acquiring debt.
As yummyfajitas links above show, those earning minimum wage are a tiny percentage of overall wage earners. In other words, minimum wage earners aren't going to move the needle much. Double minimum wage (and magically don't have that affect employment levels) and consumption isn't going to go up all that much, simply because there aren't that many people earning minimum wage. For that reason, it is a bit of a silly metric to base an argument on.