So much misinformation in this thread, wow.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility

Read that to determine how benefits for food stamps are calculated. HINT: it is indexed against income. I.e. - if you make more, the subsidy goes down.

Most gov't programs work that way. So while someone may be getting food stamps today AND getting food stamps tomorrow, they would NOT be getting "the same welfare" as they did before after income rises.

Yes, MY taxes and YOUR taxes are subsidizing corporate exploitation of labor.

People crying supply/demand are apparently willfully ignorant of concepts of negotiating power. Go study game theory.

People crying about inflation are overstating the problem. There would be SOME inflation in SOME sectors. Yes, corporate profits would get squeezed. A business won't simply raise their prices beyond what customers will pay -- that is where supply and demand comes in.

Here is the historicals on the REAL minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, over time:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42973.pdf

archaic: the minimum wage in 1994 (you said 20 years) was (statutory) 4.25 which translated to ~7.25 in 2013 REAL dollars. That is what the minimum wage is (statutory) today. So, if we assume that purchasing power today is the same as what it was then, we'd be fine. The problem is that the cost of low-income housing as a % of income has risen dramatically in 20 years. For example:

http://eyeonhousing.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/presentation23.jpg

That shows the rise of rent in real % as well as its rise as a component of core CPI.

And we haven't even touched on other necessities that are out-pacing inflation (medical, higher education)...