Progressive politicians love to talk about raising the minimum wage.

It makes them sound caring, compassionate, concerned.

They're on the side of the worker standing against a greedy employer.

The current call is for a national $15 an hour minimum wage.

More than double the current federal rate of $7.25.

A number of cities and states are already there, including New York, California,

Washington, D.C., and Seattle. Others are considering it.

The left casts the minimum wage debate as a war between employee and employer.

But most business owners pay their workers as much as they can.

Finding and keeping good people is the hardest part of any employer's job.

I know. For 17 years, I ran CKE restaurants, the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardies.

Our company and franchise restaurants employed over 75,000 people.

But as with most retail businesses, our profit margins were razor thin.

Based on my experience, if we adopt the national minimum wage of $15, here's what will happen.

One, a lot of people will lose their jobs, or have their hours reduced.

According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office study, just a $10 minimum wage would cost

half a million jobs as businesses terminate employees.

Obviously, far more jobs would be lost at $15 an hour.

To survive employers would have to reduce hours, even for workers who manage to keep their jobs.

That's a pay cut.

Two, businesses will close, and the jobs they created will disappear.

A recent report from researchers at the Harvard Business School found that each $1 increase in

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