How High Would You Raise the Minimum Wage? (Video)
ReasonTV asked Californians what they thought the “right” minimum wage is. Unsurprisingly, most of the people in the “trendy, hipster enclave” of Silver Lake in Los Angeles just assumed a higher minimum wage is simply a no-brainer, win-win for society and workers. They didn’t hesitate to insist a $15-20 minimum wage was a necessity for the common decency of low-wage workers, even when presented with the prospect of major job losses if the minimum wage were raised. The video reminds us of when Peter Schiff asked Walmart shoppers if they would be willing to pay 15% more for their groceries if Walmart employees got a 15% raise.
Most economists agree that minimum wage laws lead to job losses, as those on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder get priced out of the labor market. Reason points out that even as he was signing the new minimum wage law into effect, California Governor Jerry Brown admitted that raising the minimum wage didn’t make any economic sense:
Economically, minimum wages may not make sense. But morally and socially and politically, they make every sense, because it binds the community together…”
Brown is right about one thing – buying votes with higher minimum wages makes a lot of political sense. What happens when a society decides that warm fuzzy feelings of morality are more important than economic realities? Well, all you need to do is look to countries like Puerto Rico and Greece to see the endgame of those economic policies.
The trend seems to be that Americans will continue to push for higher minimum wages, despite creeping inflation that will weaken the value of the dollar. There’s only one way to protect your wealth from the economic illiteracy that seems to permeate our society – own assets that aren’t tied to the risks of public debt and poor economic policies: gold and silver bullion.
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ignorance is sad
Unlimited govt power in the hands of short term greedy,long term ignorant voters is a recipe for disaster.Not much,one can do,other than protect yourself,the best you can.
Ignorance is blisssssshit! Dumb people doing dumb things…
You do not raise wages, you cut down 50% of all federal government workers, moving them across into the Private Sector where they can become taxPAYERS instead of being TAXES (now). With that done (cannot be done overnight), income taxes can then go DOWN (half as many in govenment) and that means that PRICES can go down, and that means that the Private Sector can build and sell more Products and get them SOLD and that means that we can keep hiring more workers in our Private Sector (ex-Government people) and that means our standard of living can go UP (instead-of as now, where our standard of living keeps going DOWN! (Example: Boeing vs Airbus, if Boeing could cut it’s prices by say $250,000 on a plane like one Airbus is also building, Gee, Gang, it ain’t rocket science! BOEING then gets the sale! And can hire more workers! And we have cut taxes because fewer in government needing to be covered by the Private Sector!!!! Why is this so difficult on so many Americans (Perhaps because our Country is now down to about #25 out of about 35 Countries, education-wise!!!! Every time a wage goes UP, our Country sells less real wealth out into the world, and it is real wealth (airplanes, cars, tractors, building materials –not people who are not a part of real wealth creation (and SALES).
When ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise!!!
In the long run the only benefit that is gained when the minimum wage is increased is that the Federal Government gets more TAXES. Yes the person who gets the minimum wage increase feels good for a short time, but as that increase filters into the business that have to pay it there is a very good chance that there will be layoff’s, thus increasing unemployment. Also prices will go up for all the things that people need for daily life until the people that got the raise in pay end up back where the were before the pay increase, and many may be in worse shape because someone in their family may have lost their job and can’t find a new job.
Entry level jobs are being eliminated as the wages go up. Places like Burger King and Wendy’s said in there last reports that they are looking and automation to make hamburgers that will custom grind the beef, fresh cut the tomato’s, lettuce and apply the condiments, then send out the wrapped product. There are units that will make salads and almost any other they need. their thoughts are that they will only need 2 or 3 people per shift instead of the current 10+. They will have to pay a little more because people will have to have more skills, thus almost all entry jobs will be gone.