$15/hr to provide a 'living wage'

In a classic 'we are paid too little, but don't understand Marginal Revenue Productivity' mantra, workers at local retail and fast food in Downtown Chicago staged a walk out to demand higher wages.  Did they forget they dont get paid if they are not working?

This is my favorite quote:

* According to WLS , Lorraine Chavez of the Workers Organizing Committee said, "These are poverty wages and homelessness wages."

Poverty wages?  Homelessness wages?  I tend not to agree with these absurd, non-economic based theories.

Also, it's good to hear (sarcasm):

* Those involved in the protest are also rallying for the right to unionize without intimidation from their employers.

But the employers would be forced to recognize the union and pay union wages.  How intimidating is that?

$15 is such an arbitrary number that makes it seem like people will be 'richer'.  Little is shown how the increased in wages will cause costs to be passed on to the customer, decrease the amount of people an employer hires, and puts the business at greater risk of failure.

Why not $20/hr?  $50/hr?  When does it end?  How do you know the minimum wage (even though wages are determined by supply and demand curves like any other good or service), yet not know the maximum wage?

Also, do these people ever protest at the Federal Reserve?  Inflation makes every dollar for everyone worth less and less.  Instead of protesting the job creators of the world, the protests should be aimed at Chairmen Bernanke.

Yahoo article here