Minimum Wage – “to increase or not to increase”

Just listened to a debate on this issue. It is argued that the PP had made a campaign pledge to increase minimum wage to #20.00/hr, countered by it was a suggestion and not a pledge. Either way, it demonstrates that change is here, suddenly people have begun to hold politicians to what they promise on the platform - and that has to be a good thing, never mind that this was never done before, this is what change is about and we can only benefit from it.
No longer should politicians be allowed to jump up on a platform and spew rubbish and we take it to the bank, that cheque will surely bounce as with many received from the former regime have.
Suddenly, people are demanding fulfilment of every promise made on the platform, and they are right to so do, but this also must be accompanied with some logic and understanding. I have always advocated that we understand governance in relation to the provision of services, we must understand for instance, the costs of these promises, we must relate them to the outlined development plans of a govn’t, we must also relate it to the revenue expectations in addition to many other factors but never should it be based on simply platform promises.
What are the implications of an increased minimum wage? We can expect increased cost in almost anything because the businessmen will simply pass on this additional cost as they have done on every occasion that they have had increases in production cost. Effectively, the buying power of an increased income will not increase and we are back to square one. I have argued for increased minimum wage before, so I should be in support of this, but because of what I outlined above I will be cautious.
What should happen if such increases are to benefit those who get them is for measure to be placed so that greedy businessmen cannot pass on such costs (price controls?). This country is a paradise for the business class and someone needs to make it a paradise for the working class, can the PP accomplish this, how should I know.
In the final analysis, the power remains with us and just as we have sent a clear message to the former regime, we can now exercise this power and send a message to the businessmen. In simply language, leave the blasted thing on the shelf. The effect of this is reduced prices; I am reminded of Gypsy’s calypso “why crying, but we buying”.
Increased minimum wage or not, we can increase its buying power, why don’t we?