I think GP is worried this may not be the case, and he would lose purchasing power.

Nothing may happen, but I think we'll have to wait and see if this is the case or not.

I think the largest pay bump I've ever seen in a year was right at 2% or possibly even less.

And one would assume you'd see rents and housing prices very rapidly start going up, then presumably other prices over varying levels of time.

What would happen if we were to set the minimal wage at 100K so that we eliminate the poverty in one swift move and everyone is either equally rich, or as you are worried - equally poor :)

If the government offered jobs at the minimum wage there would be an effective price floor for wages. Better yet, if those government workers spend their income they can drive economic demand which ends up creating jobs above minimum wage. Eventually every job pays more than minimum wage and nobody is dependent on the jobs guarantee.

Your solution isn’t better. The government cannot be everywhere the way that Walmart is.

I really don’t think its impact is going to be that big. Low skilled labor will still find ways to get hired for less, off the books if the need is great enough...it happens all the time.

The government already offers jobs like that too, just that it's through the prison system and the floor is much too low