http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/GeorgeWill/2007/01/04/
raising_the_minimum_wage_is_still_a_bad_idea
http://tinyurl.com/yx3fv2
Raising the minimum wage is still a bad idea
By George Will
Thursday, January 4, 2007
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The problem is that demand for almost everything is elastic: When the price of something goes up, demand for it goes down. Obviously were the minimum wage to jump to, say, $15 an hour, that would cause significant unemployment among persons just reaching for the bottom rung of the ladder of upward mobility. But suppose those scholars are correct who say that when the minimum wage is low and is increased slowly — proposed legislation would take it to $7.25 in three steps — the negative impact on employment is negligible. Still, because there are large differences among states’ costs of living, and the nature of their economies, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., sensibly suggests that each state should be allowed to set a lower minimum.
But the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities’ prices. Washington, which has its hands full delivering the mail and defending the shores, should let the market do well what Washington does poorly. But that is a good idea whose time will never come again.
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It’s a dumb idea. It’s immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. (I should have a template or macro for those three words. They apply to EVERY government program I have ever seen.)
On a personal level, I will cite my cousin, the very “bad” elevator operator, (bad in the sense how does one “lose” your elevator; basically a very nice person), who thanks to the FIRST federal minimum wage hike I remember in the late 60’s, lost “her” job. NYC buildings found it economical to change to automatic controls. And, gobs of people lost “their” jobs. In my cousin’s case, that was the last time she worked outside the home. Today, she’s still paying for that political diktat.
It is immoral for the government to tell a potential employer and potential employee that they can not enter into a exchange that they both find desirable. Further, in the case of the person, they are being denied a chance to be earn anything. The choice is being made in Washington DC that they get nothing but welfare. It’s like pulling up the bottom rung of the ladder to economic prosperity. The person doesn’t get to learn while they earn.
It is ineffective. Work that can not be profitably done at below the minimum wage just doesn’t gets automated like the elevator, off-shored to overseas, or just doesn’t get done. People will figure out a “black market” in its place. As with any time the government sets a price floor, or ceiling, they ensure shortages, dislocations, and sub-optimum results.
It is inefficient. There is a cost of doing this and then checking to see if it is done. There will have to be checkers and prosecutions. ALSO, look for increase in costs. Politicians, Government Workers, and Union Employees will all now have to get a raise because the minimum wage has gone up and everything is tied to it. So, the general level of prices will go up, because only people pay “taxes”. Make no mistake this is a tax you can’t avoid.
All one has to do is look for the silent losers in this scheme. The poor, who can’t find work, take an extra hit as prices rise. The seniors on fixed incomes get hit with higher prices and higher taxes. And, society in general is poorer because of the same hit.
George Will hit it right on the head. The correct minimum wage is ZERO!
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