Unlike most conservatives, I’m not against a $15 minimum wage… in some cities. In fact, it’s less conservative to oppose a city’s right to raise its minimum wage to $15 than to support it. Remember, the core of the conservative movement is more choice and less mandate on the federal level.
Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are bumping their minimum wages. New York appears to be next on the list. In those cities, it’s potentially correct to raise the minimum wage to such a level because the cost of living is so much higher than in other areas of the country. If you want to do business in the money pits of the country, then I see very little wrong with having to pay more if that’s what the city is requiring.
Conservatives should support these efforts of choice as long as the economic fallout is minimized and the economic benefits are tenable. In reality, we will not know for sure whether it was a good idea or not in these high-cost-of-living cities until years down the line, but conservatives should appreciate the choice of the local area to make such plans. Granted, if I were a business owner in those cities I would have preferred an extended time frame to roll out the changes. Even the gradual increases are not giving business owners enough time to properly choose whether to continue doing business there or to transplant their business elsewhere. Otherwise, it’s an important step to protect the rights of local, city, county, and state governments to set their individual and business environments based upon the needs of their people. That’s practical conservatism at its core.
With that said, the concept of a national $15 minimum wage is ludicrous and completely untenable. It defies every logical bone in a conscientious economist’s body (as compared to the liberal party-line economists who skew the math in order to support it). Unfortunately, it also buys votes which is why the Democratic party supports it. They don’t believe in it because they’re aware of the consequences, but they’re not going to allow common sense economics to get in the way of winning elections.
Here are the three basic arguments against a $15 national minimum wage that are unquestionable. That doesn’t mean that liberals won’t question them. It simply means that in their heart-of-hearts they know that these arguments are correct but they also realize that the general voting population won’t know enough about these arguments to realize how solid they are. Many will simply see the words “higher wages” and believe that they’ll get more money. That’s the saddest part about the liberal argument. They have to rely on the surface level reaction and hope that none of their voters will go a millimeter below the surface. If they do, they’ll realize how bad a national minimum wage hike of this degree is bad for nearly everyone.
We Don’t Have Enough Data, Yet
We’ll start with the easiest argument. I was impressed that economy professor Noah Smith, who supported the local minimum wage increases in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, was willing to point this out.
@JonahMatranga https://t.co/X5j4ZHxhQZ. Pretty interesting
— C-diddy (@Crawziggy) November 11, 2015
The argument is pretty straightforward. There simply isn’t enough data available yet to determine whether or not this is a good idea. I know that’s not a very conservative argument since all conservatives are absolutely certain that it’s a bad idea, but we have to look at it from a defensible perspective. If someone tries it and it fails, then we were right. If nobody tries it, then we’re instantly wrong in the eyes of many.
If it’s going to work, then the places that have adopted it so far will be great places to see it work. It’s not too much to ask to wait and see rather than force a potentially disastrous situation for the country in order for Democrats to win elections.
Equal Minimums Everywhere Creates Inequality
The biggest argument against a huge national minimum wage hike (other than the arguable deficiencies it would create in an environment that is already business-unfriendly enough) is that different areas with different costs of living will experience dramatic differences as a result of the equalization.
Again, we look to a far-left publication, Slate, to illustrate this in a very astute sentence:
There are vast swaths of the United States where the cost of getting by is relatively reasonable, and where the risk of job losses posed by more than doubling the federal minimum may well outweigh the benefits of giving the remaining workers raises.
$15 per hour in San Francisco is completely different than $15 in El Reno, Oklahoma. The conservative perspective of leaving wages and business environments up to the local areas and cities makes complete sense. Doubling the national minimum wage will hurt both high-cost and low-cost areas in completely different ways. The only certainty is that they would be hurt as a result. By allowing the local areas to decide how to do it and how much that minimum should be, you empower them to take their individual situations and better adjust to the problems that would arise.
Why a $15 minimum wage isn't as sweet a deal as it sounds. http://t.co/p0dslU30fJ #FightFor15 #RenterSOS
— Maz Ali (@MazWasHere) October 7, 2015
Everyone Who Currently Makes More than $15 Gets a Pay Cut. Everyone.
This is one that requires ever-so-slightly deeper thought than the initial response. It doesn’t take much. Just scratching a little beneath the surface yields the very clearly seen truth that those who have worked hard, earned good wages, and advanced in their careers would be hurt by a national $15 minimum wage.
The costs of many things will go up as a result. Not everything, but it’s simply inevitable that when you increase the cost to run a business, the only recourse is to recoup that money by increasing prices on products and services. This means that the $15.50 per hour that someone else was earning before is now unable to buy as much with their earnings.
It just got more expensive to eat in Seattle A lot more expensive http://t.co/xLZFb9tb41
— KeithCohenRealtor (@KcohenSIRealtor) April 10, 2015
The folks who are pushing for $15/hour as a national minimum wage fall into three categories:
- Those making less than $15/hour who cannot or do not want to do the work required to make more money.
- Income equality folks who are not looking beyond the surface to realize how bad that would be for most in the country.
- Democrats who have found a bad idea they can get behind for the sake of winning more elections.
Keep in mind that I’m not demonizing any of these groups. In all three cases, it’s understandable, even justifiable to want to do this, However, it’s not a good idea by any stretch of the imagination if you’re willing to put partisan loyalty aside and look at the actual facts.
One does not have to be an economist to realize that raising the national minimum wage to $15 per hour would have dramatic negative effects on everyone. The funny part is that the enemy of income equality folks, namely rich individuals and big business, would be the ones least hurt by such a move.
Think of doubling the minimum wage as a way to give everyone a super suit that gives them special powers.
via Soshable http://ift.tt/1MrmoYM
No comments:
Post a Comment