Source not given because it is on page 16 of this thread. Here it is though:
12 million US people unemployed. Make sure these people get jobs before bringing in foreign labor.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
Welfare, 4.3 million. First, make sure these people are employed (and kick them off welfare if they are too good to take crappy menial jobs like being a janitor, cook, fruit picker):
http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/
Minimum wage will cause companies to pack up and move their production to China, Vietnam, or other places with cheaper labor (and less regulations). Then they can sell these products to Americans without providing American jobs.
As I said many times, a business will not hire somebody just to lose money. Simple math. If a business can make $5 per hour extra profit by hiring a worker but the minimum wage is $7 an hour should the business hire the worker? Only if the owner is on LSD or crack. The business will lose $2 per hour if they hire the worker. This means the business won't hire the worker. Business loses chance to make extra profit. Business is not at 100% capable production which means consumers also lose out (extra potential profit means somebody wants the extra good). Worker has no job and must live in a cardboard box and beg for money at a major intersection near you.
Other scenario. No minimum wage. Business finds worker willing to take the job for $3 an hour. Business makes $2 per hour profit, worker makes $3 per hour instead of $0 per hour (the true minimum wage). Both worker and business have an agreement and both are happy. If worker finds better job, he will quit. If he can't than at least he is making $3 an hour. The worker is not enslaved. He can leave anytime. Worker is not rich but he shares a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other workers. He has a simple diet of oatmeal, carrots, onions, eggs, rice, and beans which is boring but healthy so he is not starving and not obese. He goes to the thrift store and can find the clothes he needs. He is not rich but he has his necessary basics.
What situation seems better for the economy?
Higher taxes: businesses say screw the USA and move to nations with lower taxes. Wealthy Americans renounce their citizenship and move to friendlier nations.
Here is an example of a wealthy and famed novelist moving for this reason:
http://www.focusdep.com/biographies/Arthur/Hailey
Following the success of Hotel in 1965, he moved to California; in 1969, he moved to the Bahamas to avoid Canadian and U.S. income taxes, which were claiming 90% of his income.