28 October 2014

Minimum Wage Misinformation: I Can't Take It Anymore

This interminable election season is about to drive me up a wall.

"Vote for [name redacted to protect the guilty]. She believes that by raising the minimum wage, it will lift all Alaskans out of poverty."

Once more, with feeling: No. It. Won't.

Minimum wage is entry-level, by definition. It was never designed to do anything other than get a worker's foot in the door, in a local job market. You lift yourself out of poverty by working your way up the ladder, getting raises as you go. It's not the employer's job to make you rich.

Let me repeat that: it's not your employer's job to make you rich. That's YOUR job, bub. Your boss pays you more only when your labors contribute to his or her profits.

Taking money away from your employer makes it more difficult for him to provide jobs in the first place. And if he/she is smart enough to run a business, then said employer will find a way to lower costs.

THAT'S how you make money: lowering and limiting costs while generating a profit. If labor is too expensive, you lay off workers.

You want to get out of poverty? Get a job. Or two, if you need to.

But looking to the government for help while their hand's in your pocket, taking taxes out of your wages, is a loser's bet.

10 comments:

Well Seasoned Fool said...

In classic economic theory (Adam Smith and others) what resources are needed to keep a worker alive and producing, nothing more, is a "minimum wage". Not a pleasant place to be, as many of us know first hand, and an incentive to better ourselves.

Rev. Paul said...

WSF, I had a boss who thought that minimum wage was "incentive enough". To that concept, I added my resignation.

PioneerPreppy said...

I am a bit torn about the minimum wage issue. My gut reaction is of course keep the government out of it and let the free market decide. Problem is in order for that to work we need to keep the government out of more than just legislating wages. There is a reason companies are making more now than ever and paying far less for employees and a reason companies that should have gone the way of the dodo didn't.

The minimum wage thing isn't going to fix anything unless we get government out of deciding who lives and who dies. Yet as it sits now it isn't fair to the common working person either.

ProudHillbilly said...

A rise in minimum wages WILL benefit one particular area - that of restaurant automation. Japan has already led the way.

Rev. Paul said...

Preppy, I understand your position, of course. I come at it from an understanding that the employer's resources are finite, including the number of $$. And you'll certainly get no argument from me on the topic of limiting the government's intrusion into the open market.

PH, there's that, of course. :)

Murphy's Law said...

Amen. Higher wages just equals fewer entry-level jobs as employers find ways to automate or put more work on fewer workers. But hey--once all the illegals get work permits and add millions of new job-seekers to the mix, all of our problems will be solved, right?

Old NFO said...

Dead on... sigh...

Rev. Paul said...

ML, it's all gonna be great tomorrow, right? Always tomorrow ...

NFO ... yeah. That.

DR said...

Amen!

Rev. Paul said...

Thank you, DR.