I have a small side business I have been trying to build up since the beginning of the year. As every one of my friends knows, a month from now is the San Diego Comic Con and I'm hoping to do some promotion of some upcoming projects. I'm going to use some business cards I bought about a year ago, and I was able to gather enough money to buy a T-shirt I designed that will have information about Chaotic Fringe.

I mention this because I saw a discussion this morning about the minimum wage, and there has been talk about raising the minimum wage up to $10 an hour. There was a business owner on the show who was concerned that a raise in the minimum wage would cause problems in hiring for him. Let's face it, as he put it if you have someone who has been working for 3 years at the company and out of the blue someone off the street comes in with the new minimum wage, especially if that wage is close to the established worker, wouldn't that worker want a raise and wouldn't that bring up cost? It is an argument Republicans assert all the time.

I brought up the example of me heading to Comic-Con because it shows me not as a business person but as a consumer. The business person on the show was a printer. Of course it is a concern to worry about how the minimum wage raise would effect his business from the employee point of view but he is forgetting the customer point of view. I make an OK salary, but I not any other illusion I'm making a great wage, nor do I expect to get an increase in salary any time soon. A purchase I make has to be weighed out, much like the business owner has to think about his cost. If he doesn't have money flowing in, he will be a little hesitant in expanding his business, in making another hire or in raising the salary of someone. From my end, I can't spend any money if I don't have it or if I don't see where I can save money to make it comfortable for a purchase.

I wanted to buy a couple of shirts for the convention, maybe even use some as giveaways. I only bought one shirt because that is what I could afford as a business. The business owner in the interview was a printer, so because I didn't have the money from the job I work, I couldn't buy more than one shirt. More shirts would have meant more business for him. I am using my old cards because I don't have the money do order a batch that would be specific for the convention, which is what I wanted to do. Again, more money would have allowed me to order those, thus more business for the printer.

There are many examples I can bring up that personally effect me from making purchases, which in tern means less business for business owners. When talks are given about minimum wages and fair share of pay, one side always seems to frame the argument in a way where the business owner lives in a bubble. The business owner is the one who will suffer. If the worker doesn't have enough money to put food on the table, the worker isn't going to have enough money to take a vacation, or buy an ice cream for their kids, or buy flowers for their loved one on a holiday.

Both workers and business must be considered in the debate over minimum wage so we all can get out of the sinking boat we are in.