How's this, the IMF(!) summons the US to increase the minimum wage

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The US has been warned about its high poverty rate in the International Monetary Fund's annual assessment of the economy. The fund said about one in seven people were living in poverty and that it needed to be tackled urgently. It recommended raising the minimum wage and offering paid maternity leave to women to encourage them to work.

IMF warns the US over high poverty - BBC News

But of course the resident Voodoo economists in the Republican party will have none of it, just like multiple research has shown that the Medicaid expansion helps the poor on multiple levels: better health, more access to healthcare, less financial problems, etc. 

One of Obamacare’s major provisions — which is bitterly opposed by most Republicans — has helped improve patients’ insurance coverage, financial situation, and overall quality of life, according to a new study.

In Case Republicans Needed More Proof Obamacare Works, Here It Is | ThinkProgress

The last article is full of links to other studies. 

But Voodoo economics prefers tax cuts for those who don't need it and which will produce the least economic bang for the buck.

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Here is another reason for higher minimum wages:

Those minimum wage workers who can’t make enough and need to go on food assistance? Well, Walmart isn’t paying for those food stamps (now called SNAP), you are. The annual bill that states and the federal government foot for working families making poverty-level wages is $153 billion. A single Walmart Supercenter costs taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year in public assistance money. According to Florida Congressman Alan Grayson, in many states Walmart employees are the largest group of Medicaid recipients. They are also the single biggest group of food stamp recipients. In other words, those everyday low prices at the chain are, in part, subsidized by your tax money. Meanwhile, an estimated 18 percent of food stamps (SNAP) are spent at Walmart.

Walmart Wages Are the Main Reason People Depend on Food Stamps | The Nation

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Not a good idea to rise it to anywhere near that level, but it does provide some perspective on how the minimum wage has lagged productivity:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, suggested raising the minimum wage to $22 per hour is only logical if you look at the numbers. “If we started in 1960, and we said [that] as productivity goes up … then the minimum wage was going to go up the same … if that were the case, the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour,” the senator said, at a recent Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on “Keeping up with a Changing Economy: Indexing the Minimum Wage.”

Take it to the bank: Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to raise minimum wage to $22 per hour - Washington Times