Hey Burl, why don'y you do some grade 3 math, if you can, to try to understand the problem.  You own and run a small business in the service sector where labour costs are 50% of your revenue.  Your other costs are 30%.  That leaves you 20%, before you have paid yourself a nickel.  If your labour costs go up by a third, or 33%, and all else remains equal, your profits are essentially wiped out.  So unless you can raise prices, you might as well close down.  Remember, profits for a store owner or restaurant owner is their income.  It is not a dirty word, unless you think shopkeepers should work for nothing.