Jay,
A couple points from a quick google search:
1) Calculated in real 2010 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $10.04. It's just over $7/hr now.
2) In 1968, the minimum wage was 90% of poverty. It's around 60% now.
You say only 3% of jobs are minimum wage. True. But what percent of jobs are up to $10.04 an hour?
I think historically-speaking, if you let the market dictate wage with no oversight you will have abuses - what some here call "slave labor". You also have folks who are gonna be better off doing something besides work. And why is it that so many illegals come here to work at jobs that supposedly nobody else wants? We've allowed ourselves to go backwards from where we once were, IMO.
And yes, we can disagree w/o calling eachother regressive corporate shills, neanderthals, or claiming the other does not believe what they say because they supposedly watch Fox news, read Ayn Rand, and voted for 40+ years of regressive red-baiting Bush-Reagan deregulatory unfettered baron capitalism.