Minimum Wages

This graphic, from the Wall Street Journal, appears today in anticipation of President Obama's likely State of the Union mention tonight.  Here is the same data presented in a handy map:

Oregon and Washington, as you probably know, lead the pack in terms of the minimum wage (something I always remind myself when shelling out $12 for a burger and fries at a brewpub).

The question is: is the minimum wage a good way to address income inequality or poverty?  Most economists would probably agree with the premise that it isn't.  Policies that do a better job of targeting income transfers to low wage workers, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, are much, much more effective at reaching the target population.  But is it a good second-best policy (i.e. one that might not be as efficient but is politically possible and does a reasonable job of doing what we want)?  This is a big and open question and where you'll find the most active debate among economists.