Today's Congressional Budget Office report on the raising the minimum wage is a bit of a Rorschach test. Whether or not you support a hike, it contains new ammo for your old argument.

On the one hand, the government's chief number-crunchers conclude it's probably a job killer. Increasing the minimum to $10.10 an hour, as Democrats have proposed, would eliminate about 500,000 jobs.

On the other hand, they also find it would pull 900,000 people out of poverty, and put around $19 billion into the pockets of low- and middle-income families. About 16.5 million workers would get a pay bump. Wealthier families see their real income drop a bit, as business profits slip and prices rise somewhat.

Even if you don't agree with every technical aspect of how the CBO has conducted its analysis, it is certainly a reasonable take on a subject where the economics are far from settled. And to me, the numbers present a strong case for raising the wage (a case that, yes, I've made before). Accounting for moderate job losses (which some research suggests might not even materialize), we're talking a policy that collectively enriches working families. Some teens and less educated workers will have more difficulty finding a job, but more will receive a raise. When you weigh the potential trade-offs, it seems like a net plus for the economy.