The government first set a minimum wage during the Great Depression in 1938.

NPR: Obama, Business Groups Differ On Minimum Wage Plan

Left unexplained by progressives, of course, is if the government is needed to set a wage floor because greedy companies will only pay the minimum, why don the other 97% pay more than the minimum?

FORBES: The Minimum Wage: Putting the First Rung on the Ladder of Success Out of Reach

With the vote on a minimum wage increase set to come before Congress early in January, she thinks tax incentives for small business could pass. (She says she plans to vote for an increase in minimum wage either way).

FORBES: Departing Small Biz Chair Ready To Play Ball

Labour has already won backing from some large firms for its plan to sign the European Union's social chapter and set a national minimum wage, policies which are likely to be far more damaging to small firms than big ones.

ECONOMIST: Labour isn��t thinking

Not if a low minimum wage is set by experts rather than by politicians, perhaps with an even lower rate for young workers, as in Britain.

ECONOMIST: Pay in Germany

She set about creating a low wage economy for millions.

BBC: Thatcher's role: Was she one of the great orators?

High paid executives, disconnected from the reality of low wage living, often set wages based on minimum wage because they believe it is a fair wage.

WHITEHOUSE: Our Top Stories

The campaign said that in the same way that the Low Pay Commission was set up in 1997 to advise on the minimum wage, a High Pay Commission was needed to introduce "a wide-ranging review" of pay at the top and bring in new measures to curb excessive remuneration.

BBC: Darling dismisses pay commission

He inherited a club he claimed was on the brink of administration and set about cutting the wage budget before controversially sacking long-time boss Fallon in January.

BBC: Histon's Allen Soraff holds Steve Fallon consultation