I was at my favorite mom and pop restaurant for lunch on Friday and the owner was telling me that she was having a hard time keeping the doors open. Why? I asked. Said she: "Most of our employees are high school and college students and congress raised the minimum wage last year, since then we've had to let some of our employees go and we've also had to raise our prices to compensate. It's been very tough these last couple of months."

Being an economist by trade, I already knew what minimum wage hikes can do to small businesses. But it was painful for me to see it hit home at an establishment that I frequent. Why can't democrats in congress see that the very policies they think are going to help "the little guy" can ultimately end up putting "the little guy" out of a job?