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Two things will help you consider this issue: Basic economics and rational thought.

Increasing the minimum wage will flood the market with currency, and prices everywhere will increase to compensate.

It's great to imagine getting $12 an hour for folding shirts or bussing tables, but the consequence is that you could expect that average meal to dock your campus cash by enough to make that extra cash a moot point.

Just imagine everyone around you having more money. You'd still be working a minimum wage job, and you still wouldn't have any more cash on hand than anyone else.

If what you're looking for is more money, a good solution is to find a better job.

Barbara Ehrenreich's touching story was fact-filled and beautiful, but one-sided. She colorfully illustrated for us the cold reality of what's it's like to work three part-time jobs, but not the common reasons for doing it.

Those working minimum wage jobs are largely dropouts and students. If you worked hard in high school, got a decent scholarship to a good university and went on to get a master's, you can anticipate a respectable salary.

Diligent college students can expect better things in life once their days of ringing up groceries for book money are over. Dropouts can still work hard to get back into school, but it won't be as easy for them, and with good reason.

There are better methods of helping out minimum-wage workers, such as enhancing public transportation, socializing health care, and improving working conditions.

Ehrenreich mentioned how costly it is to catch a cab, and how trying it is to walk to work every day. Improving public transportation by getting more vehicles to smaller places would require more jobs, as would cleaning up factory work and other low-wage operations. Socializing health care would cut out one of the largest problems for minimum wage workers, and has the potential to benefit everyone.

These alternative methods could create more jobs, boost our economy, and help get us out of the slump created by inflation. They're a more responsible approach to improving minimum wage life than just giving everyone more money.

If you're reading this column, chances are you're in college and making an effort to educate yourself. Bear this in mind when it comes to raising the minimum wage: You'll have more bills in your pocket, but they won't be worth as much.