Minimum Wage

January 30, 2021

Let’s face it. What we refer to as the minimum wage is actually a maximum wage for the workers, who are earning it. I find that all of the arguments that Conservatives will make to argue that the minimum wage will destroy jobs and companies to be very convenient and self-serving. Allowing companies to pay employees a less than livable wage is a corporate subsidy paid for by the tax payers. Workers who cannot afford the basics of life have to collect food stamps, welfare checks, and rent subsidies as well as suffer the ridicule of the righteous right.

The increase in the minimum wage will eventually get passed on to the consumers who use those services, which is the way it should be. The cost of a McDonald’s hamburger may go up, but that is the meager price we all have to pay to make sure we are not being served by indentured servants. There is scant evidence that an increase in the minimum wage destroys jobs. There is more evidence that a rise actually increases work incentives and job stability. It will not cause rampant inflation. We have also come to realize that a lot of these non-essential workers were essential after all. Let’s support a national increase of the minimum wage to $15/hour, and pass it on.