Time for a Rant

New York State Democrats Seeking to Increase State's Minimum Wage from Current $7.25/Hour to $8.50/Hour

::::BANGS HEAD::::

REALLY!?!?

     We are in the middle of a recession, youth unemployment is at an all-time high, and these guys want to increase the minimum wage all the way up to $8.50/hour!? The minimum wage is a price control. It artificially increases the cost of labor to businesses in the same way placing a tax on gasoline increases the cost of it and gets people and business to purchase less of it, provided the increase is high enough. LABOR IS NO DIFFERENT. You artificially increase labor's cost, and you are going to see a spike in the unemployment rate. Yes, you can increase the cost of labor artificially without seeing a spike in the unemployment rate if the increases are minimal, but this depends on the type of unemployment rate as well. In terms of the overall unemployment rate, the minimum wage probably doesn't increase it that much. Where the minimum wage increases tend to have a bad effect is on the youth, which are the people that the media are always pointing out are suffering through a very high unemployment rate right now (in order for the minimum wage itself to really begin to raise the overall unemployment rate, you'd probably have to implement something like a "living wage" as many on the Left desire).

     Well what do these Democrats think will happen if you raise the cost of cheap labor (often youth) to business? They will higher less such workers. Thus, we have another case of the left putting the working person up onto a pedastal and then, well-meaning or not, trying to push through a policy that is only going to send the economy even further into the crapper. Note how House Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says the following:

Silver said the issue was about "a full day's pay for a full day's work."

"When push comes to shove, this is a moral issue," he said.
Note the phrasing, "A full day's pay" (whatever that is supposed to mean) "for a full day's work." Words that are very arbitrary in meaning but that are meant to appeal to the empty-headed on this issue. The amount you make as a laborer depends on what skills you have to offer. What value can you provide to employers on the labor market. Obviously if you have a Ph.D in computer engineering and know how to design microprocessors, you are not going to just start off at minimum wage. Minimum wage is because such laborers are generally unskilled. They have virtually nothing to offer except very basic labor skills. But this is fine for youth, such as teenagers, who are able to get jobs and thus garner work experience and begin their foray into adulthood.

     Saying that the minimum wage should be increased not only prices youth out of the labor market, but it also is entitlement-minded. No one is entitled to a decent-paying job that allows you to live a nice life. If you want to live a nice life, then you need to research what skills are needed in society, then acquire said skills and this way you will be more highly-valued in the labor market. Or you can start a business and produce goods and/or services. Either way, the economy works where you have to produce something of value to society, which is determined by the market. That is when you are then traded money, which you then can trade for other goods/services. If you have a nice home and car, it means you have a skill that is valued highly or own a business that produces enough of some good or service that you make enough money to own those things. Saying the minimum wage increase is a "moral issue" relies on the entitlement mindset and ignores economics.

     Some say, "The cost of living in New York State is very high." Yes, it is. But you aren't supposed to just make minimum wage for the rest of your life. Thinking that you should be able to just get a job and be paid minimum wage, but that minimum wage should be adequate to afford you a nice lifestyle and raise a family and all that, is an entitlement-mindset in the extreme. It's basically saying, "I am too lazy to acquire any skills or do anything whatsoever to make myself valuable in some way to society, so I want to use the force of the government in order to legally increase how much an employer must pay me." If all you can continually earn is minimum wage, then you have virtually nothing to offer to society. It is up to YOU to acquire the skills to create value in some way to offer to society.

     I think the truly moral thing to do (albeit not necessarilly politicially popular as too many people do not know any better) would be to eliminate the state minimum wage (and the national minimum wage) outright. This would lower the price of unskilled labor to the market level and allow more people to actually get work. And the Republican party seems utterly idiotic in how they are counter-arguing the issue. They aren't pointing any of this out, but instead are using the argument that the minimum wage hike will result in higher taxes and reduced social services. Well maybe, but they could completely turn this issue on its head with the Democrats by making the argument that the truly moral thing to do is to leave the minimum wage fixed where it is at, or else risk raising the unemployment rate further, and in particular the youth unemployment rate.

     They could say, "At the end of the day, this IS a moral issue, and as such, we do not want to be artificially increasing the cost of youth and unskilled labor to businesses, which will result in them having fewer opportunities for employment in this economy." I don't know for sure, but I would be willing to bet that this push for an increase in the minimum wage is also tied to the unions, who push for minimum wage increases because the minimum wage protects unionized labor from cheaper non-union workers, and also a lot of union contracts are tied to the prevailing minimum wage, which means that an increase in the minimum wage increases the amount of money the workers, and hence the union, will make, which thus increases its power.

Then we get this:

Myrna Capaldi, a single working mother of a teenager from Kingston, led two dozen demonstrators with the Workers Justice Center to Skelos' office. After a 25-minute wait, the bilingual family social services worker was happy to meet with Skelos' aide.

"Every dollar I earn is already spent before I get my paycheck," Capaldi said.

MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE POPPED OUT A CHILD WHEN YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY SKILLS, AND STILL DON'T HAVE ANY SKILLS, TO MAKE YOURSELF VALUED MORE HIGHLY AS A LABORER.

Rant over.