The push is on by the Democrat Party to have the government mandate a $15 per hour minimum wage. If there ever was a job killer proposed by our feckless politicians, this would be right at the top.
Everyone wants to make as much money as possible working at a job, but it should be determined by the free market not by a government mandate. Remember, a worker really does not get paid by the hour, he/she gets paid for the value they bring to the hour. If an employer wants to pay $10, $15, $20 or more per hour to their employees, fine, but it should not be dictated by the government. It should be determined by the employer as to what they can afford and what he/she needs to attract new employees. The free market shall determine what an employer needs to pay.
This proposed increase in the minimum wage really hurts the people the promoters of the mandated minimum wage are trying to help. The minimum wage is not supposed to be a wage that will sustain a family. It is a wage used as a stepping stone for unskilled, inexperienced workers starting out in their working career. It also is geared for the senior citizens who are looking to supplement their retirement income. Most workers, who today work for the minimum wage, are teenagers starting out their working careers. Most find employment in fast food restaurants, service companies and clerks in retail stores. If the employer is forced to pay someone more than what the job is worth to the employer, then the employer most likely will not hire a worker, he may lay off workers, he may cut the hours worked by the employees, he may have to raise his prices to meet the added cost of doing business, or he may just have to go out of business, thereby creating more unemployment, especially among the young people needing to get experience by working at a job.
It seems that most all the Democrats missed that class in Economics 101 in school because of the damaging consequences of pushing to pass a $15 government mandated minimum wage. Is that showing empathy to the low skilled, inexperienced worker who will be unable to get a job and who will join the rolls of the unemployed? Many of the teenagers who cannot find a job are prone to get involved in anti-social behavior or possibly turn to crime as a result.
One of the consequences of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour for a beginner worker, is that the worker now earning $15 per hour per hour will now want a raise to $20 per hour, and the worker making $20 per hour will now want $25 per hour, on up the line. It's like a case of tipping over standing dominoes in a row. Besides the pressure to increase the employers payroll, it will mean that he will have to pay more in Social Security taxes which is an additional cost of doing business.
So it is not just the worker getting paid the new minimum wage, it affects all the employees now earning above the minimum wage, and of course, the employer who will be saddled with the extra cost of doing business.
In New York City with the minimum wage raised to $15 per hour, we have 4,000 restaurant workers laid off and a few restaurants who have since gone out of business, and ironically, the bar/restaurant that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez worked , before she became a Congresswoman, has closed its doors as a result. The same thing has happened in Seattle, Washington after they raised their minimum wage. You could say that the old adage of “Those that don't remember the past are bound to repeat it” certainly applies in the case of a government mandated minimum wage.
So again I ask the question, “is it better to be employed at $8.00 per hour or unemployed at $15.00 per hour”? Only an ignorant politician would not agree with that obvious answer.
