About minimum wage

[Aractus]

So the rich people in your area get to spend less on groceries while the poor people have to spend more?

That's correct, but only true for the cities, and as mentioned IIRC the difference is only around 5-10%. Wealthy people are more likely to go out of their way to shop at a cheaper supermarket, therefore if the cheapest supermarkets were not in their areas they wouldn't shop there, and would instead go to the cheaper suburbs.

What I am mainly stating is that there are many stores from which one can choose to shop here.  All the products are the same, no matter where one shops.  All one is shopping for is the name of the establishment.

What you're saying is total BS. Are you suggesting that an Indian Supermarket sells the same products as an American supermarket? What about a Chinese supermarket? How do you define the "same" fresh produce, meat, or dairy? Anyway, in terms of "name of the establishment", no the name of the establishment does not increase the price of an identically branded supermarket product in Aust.

(edit)

I just saw this ... a BigMac in USA costs USD 0.74 more than a BigMac in Australia, despite our minimum wage being about double. So much for the argument that high minimum wage = higher prices...

The one thing that I will say is that doubling the minimum wage in USA all at once would be a huge shock to the market, I would personally think you'd have to raise it over a number of years at perhaps $2-3 per hour per year until you reach the desired level, and then index it.