Once you start down the path of setting a minimum wage, there's always an argument to make it higher, no matter what. Why stop at $20/hour? Why not set it at $30, so with a 40 hour week it's about the median income in the US (as per a quick web search). That's only fair, right? Well,but 40 hours is hard so why stop there? Why not, say, $100/hour so everyone can afford to raise a family with two cars and a home and have above the median income? (1) And so forth.
In fact the minimum wage is zero. That's what employees get when the company they work for has to let them go because the service they provide to the company, is no longer worth what the company is forced to pay for it. I saw this play out in person, up close, in the late 90'sa at a friend's repair shop.
(1) No, the math doesn't work on that; not everyone can live in Lake Woebegone. But this is the kind of justification you sometimes hear. Apart from math ... not everyone is going to be able (or willing to put in the effort) to get a house, 0.3 lakeside cabins, 2.3 cars, 1.7 kids and 0.9 dogs, or whatever the averages are.
I know that every time they raise the minimum wage, cost of living increases, eroding the gains I have worked hard for to get to the wage I now earn through raises and self education. I haven’t had a raise in 4 years, but my purchasing power is perhaps 70% of what it was in 2020
What will they do when they get laid off? Learn to code. Go on welfare. Sell a pint of blood. Sell street pharmaceuticals. Eat Hamburger Helper with no ground beef. Get a GED. Enlist. Seek domestic employment opportunities in Dubai. Vote Republican? People are not without options.
Once you start down the path of setting a minimum wage, there's always an argument to make it higher, no matter what. Why stop at $20/hour? Why not set it at $30, so with a 40 hour week it's about the median income in the US (as per a quick web search). That's only fair, right? Well,but 40 hours is hard so why stop there? Why not, say, $100/hour so everyone can afford to raise a family with two cars and a home and have above the median income? (1) And so forth.
In fact the minimum wage is zero. That's what employees get when the company they work for has to let them go because the service they provide to the company, is no longer worth what the company is forced to pay for it. I saw this play out in person, up close, in the late 90'sa at a friend's repair shop.
(1) No, the math doesn't work on that; not everyone can live in Lake Woebegone. But this is the kind of justification you sometimes hear. Apart from math ... not everyone is going to be able (or willing to put in the effort) to get a house, 0.3 lakeside cabins, 2.3 cars, 1.7 kids and 0.9 dogs, or whatever the averages are.
I know that every time they raise the minimum wage, cost of living increases, eroding the gains I have worked hard for to get to the wage I now earn through raises and self education. I haven’t had a raise in 4 years, but my purchasing power is perhaps 70% of what it was in 2020
What will they do when they get laid off? Learn to code. Go on welfare. Sell a pint of blood. Sell street pharmaceuticals. Eat Hamburger Helper with no ground beef. Get a GED. Enlist. Seek domestic employment opportunities in Dubai. Vote Republican? People are not without options.