So businesses would go under if they had to pay $7.50 an hour? I doubt that. More than ten years ago, our very small business paid the few employees we had $8 an hour, more than minimum wage, but not enough for someone to live on. Nevertheless we did what we could to be fair. And we made a lot less than $8 an hour ourselves, but the wages we had to pay didn't put us out of business.
And I think my first job at Woolworths when I was in high school '52 and '53 started at $.65 and went to $.75 the second year and I was happy to be making some money. I remember my aunt telling me how rich they felt now that her husband was making $5,000 a year.