No wonder our country is going broke

"Should the minimum wage be $22 an hour? That’s what Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts suggested at a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Here’s her logic: If you took the minimum wage from 1960 and indexed it for workers’ gains in productivity, it would be $22 an hour today. And why shouldn’t employees reap the benefits of their own improved labor practices?, she asked at the hearing, rhetorically. Today, the actual minimum wage is $7.25 an hour."

Senator Warren says that adjusting for inflation, 22.00 an hour should be our minimum wage. Hmmm methinks she doesn't know anything about real world finance.  What am I saying, I don't think.  I KNOW she doesn't know anything about the real world and real world financing.  Every time there has been an increase in the minimum wage there has been a corresponding increase in the Consumer Price Index.  That is the price you and I and everyone else pays for everything from milk, bread, meat,caned goods etc.  Businesses aren't in business to pay people a wage.  They are in business to make money.  And when you cost them more money to be in business , they will do one of three things, if not all three in short order.

1:) Raise the prices that everyone pays for their service or product.  (Which is why a can of beans costs more and you get less product in the can)

2:) Downsize or shift labor costs elsewhere. (Moving Jobs AND Tax Revenue out of the country)

3:) Leave the market entirely. (Take their ball and go home.  Losing us the jobs, the tax revenue and costing everyone more because of less competition, more people on unemployment.)

If you raise the minimum wage in our current economy, which do you think business owners will do?

Seriously....

What do you think will happen?

Raising the minimum wage isn't some great cureall for our economy.

With our economy in it's current state, I don't think it will survive raising of the minimum wage.  Which might be exactly what Elizabeth Warren and the Democrats want.


Maetenloch at Ace's has more