American workers need a raise, and there's one simple way to boost incomes at the lower end of the pay scale: Increase the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009.It's certainly correct that a growing economy is by far the best way to enhance incomes and living standards. But that precept ignores a troubling reality: Too many hardworking families are simply not benefitting from a recovery that's now well into its fifth year.Unemployment has fallen to 5.8 percent; the economy has added at least 200,000 jobs every month for nine straight months; the stock market setting records barely makes the news.But real wages remain flat. People feel gloomy, not giddy.