A Magic Bullet... Straight To The Heart

Let's talk about the economics of running a business for a bit, shall we?

The woke left's desire to ram through a $15 per hour minimum wage is not the magical solution they all think it is. Many businesses, including the "evil corporations" have a set cost that they can apply to wages. There really isn't a ton of wiggle room. I will use my job/employer as a real world example.

I am currently working for $9.90 per hour at a well known fuel distribution company. Our labor costs, as a location, are set by corporate in terms of hours available for scheduling. That number is pretty well set. Over the past year, even pre Beer Bug, we were seeing a slow reduction in hours available to schedule. When you artificially raise the amount paid per hour, hours will go down. In some situations, jobs could be lost. My location is 24 hours. If the labor costs radically increase, there is little incentive for the company to maintain a 24/7 business schedule. That would eliminate one full time employee (me) and one part time employee (my co-worker who works the other overnight shifts).

These are not hypotheticals. During the mega-lockdowns last spring, for around six weeks, we eliminated the third shift entirely. The business had dropped off to such an extent that it wasn't profitable to stay open.

Artificially raising the floor also causes pressure upward. What do you tell the workers who have skills that have allowed them to earn $15, $18, $20 per hour who now are at or slightly above non-skilled, entry level jobs? Wouldn't they be eligible for a bump too? What about unionized skilled trades?

Minimum wage jobs, at least the ones that still pay minimum wage, are not meant to be careers. They are a place to start, earn skills and knowledge, and work your way up to better pay and more responsibility.

The Congressional Budget Office, the preeminent authority in some people's minds, has flat out said that raising the minimum, even slowly over four years, would result in a loss of 1.4 million jobs. Many of those are low skill workers who do not have the knowledge to get a higher wage job, so they will likely become permanently unemployed and wards of the state. In addition, the price increases will put even more pressure upon the lowest wage earners, making that $15 per hour worth less, in the real world, than their current wage. Additionally, the federal deficit would be increased by $54 billion while keeping the net income roughly flat.

Fewer employed people, more federal debt, increased prices for goods and services, and an overall stagnation of wages leading to a decrease in purchasing power. Why is this even under consideration?

That is an easy question to answer, but every time I do, I am called all sorts of nasty names and my social media accounts get time outs. I will leave you with this question instead. If the people whose jobs are at risk the most from this policy really understood the policies effects, would they vote to enact them?

Fear and ignorance are powerful tools when wielded in the wrong hands. Education is critical and never ending. We all must continue to learn and think critically about everything. We are the masters of our own lives, but we must put in the work too. The more you know and the more you think, the less power you give to those that wish to control and manipulate you.