The Wrong Debate about the Minimum Wage
It’s way past time to wreck the dishonest framing by so-called ‘job creators’ and their pundit accomplices.
Very recently we passed the 12th anniversary since the last minimum wage hike was approved by Congress, lifting working class pay to $7.25 per hour. The twelve-year gap represents the longest stretch of time between increases since the minimum income standard was adopted by Congress over 80 years ago.
To mark the occasion, let’s take a look at the two most commonly plied arguments against raising the minimum wage:
- Increasing the minimum wage will lead to loss of jobs.
- The minimum wage should be abolished — it’s keeping wages down.
Considering argument number one comes from supply side charlatans, it should be dismissed out of hand since it’s an argument made in bad faith; an intellectually dishonest rationale. The very same crowd wouldn’t bat an eyelash if laying off employees meant fattening a company’s shareholder value.
As for argument number two, I think comedian Chris Rock said it best: It’s called minimum wage because if ‘job creators’ could pay you less, they would.
