I will not here chime in on the myriad arguments for and against the minimum wage that redound to economic research or theories. Instead I ask a simple question. Or two.
Dear central planners in DC, do you believe that you have unlimited political capital and unlimited time and means to fix the problems in America? OK. I didn’t think so. So let me ask you, of all of the things you might propose to get America “working” again, how high on the list would you rank passing a 20%+ increase in the wage cost of hiring low-skilled workers? Really high? You see, even if you cherry pick the study most favorable to you, that raising wages (by a little and in one particular industry) would not wreck it, can you tell me the model or research that shows how raising labor costs increases GDP? Gets us out of an innovation stagnation?
Do us all a favor, will you? Be honest. Tell us your feeble-minded constituents can’t get their minds around any policy more complex that arbitrarily raising wages by fiat, and even if they could, this is simply yet another symbol about what is important in modern America. That we “care.” That some people have too much and others too little and you’re not going to sit by and let that happen on your watch. Just stop with the damn obfuscation. The blogosphere is already pretty full of material, who wants to have fake arguments about the economic merits of the minimum wage?
Not me, certainly not me. Your loyal taxpaying slave.
