Increasing the Minimum Wage
The State of Illinois recently raised its minimum wage. I submitted the following comment to my local newspaper: "Unless there is also imposed a maximum wage, then an increase in the minimum wage will bid up all other wages, and there will then be no net benefit for the minimum wage earners. Unless the government can prevent prices for goods and services from rising, then an increase in the minimum wage will bid up prices for goods and services, and there will then be no net benefit for the minimum wage earners." An increase in the minimum wage is therefore nothing more than empty symbolism. No one attempted to rebut my contention.
posted by modlib at 7:36 PM
2 Comments:
If everyone was a millionaire only billionaires would be rich. Finally! Someone who gets it! It's amazing how many people don't understand this fundamental law of capitalism. If you pay attention to the Fed they seem to get it. People can never understand why the Fed raises rates when payrolls go up or unemployment goes down. Isn't that a good thing? For the Fed it means worrying about the CPI and the resulting reduction in purchasing power. They get it. Why doesn't the rest of the government? Because raising wages gets you or you friend elected and in power. That's all that's important. It's worse than a meaningless symbol. It's a bribe that reduces the purchasing power for the rest of us, contributes to inflation and higher prices and widens the very income gap they think they're closing.
And the mass media tricks us all into thinking that we're "helping out the little guy" by imposing statist federal government controls.
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