On 10/14/15 5:34 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
Can one of you economic geniuses explain why raising the minimum wage to
$15/hr is going to benefit millions of low income people?

Put aside the fact that traditionally minimum wage jobs were filled by
high school students in the afternoons and weekends to earn a little
date money. No one was trying to pay a mortgage or rent and feed a
family earning minimum wage.

Seems to me that if the minimum wage is raised, the cost of goods and
services by those offering minimum wage jobs will rise. If the cost of
goods and services goes up, then the price charged for them will also go
up. In short order, people making minimum wage will have their buying
power pretty much back to where it was before the increase.

I know it sounds good for political candidates to promise increases in
minimum wage, but realistically what does it accomplish?

Wouldn't it be better to develop programs that encourage business growth
and expansion, thus creating much higher pay scales that people can
provide for a family with? Leave the minimum wage jobs for teenagers.



You can't put aside the fact that more than half of today's minimum wage
workers are not teenagers, a lot of them are women, and a lot of them
are trying to support themselves and their families.

Oh, and people with more money in their pockets at that part of the
economic scale spend their money, and that creates more demand for
services and products and more jobs.

Robert Reich has a bit on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXKLa2zfoTk

At present, the federal minimum wage is half of that $15. That higher
number is a goal.