Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

To Raise the Minimum Wage is Either Useless or Stupid, or Both

Most economists will agree that raising the minimum wage is a bad idea. Employers that must pay more per employee will simply hire fewer employees, either by not replacing those who leave, or by letting current employees go. Thus we will see greater unemployment. We will also see more employers violating the law by hiring Illegals at lower wages, hence again displacing current employees. Another point is that if the government forces employers to pay Illegals the higher wage, more Illegals will be on our streets without employment, since employers prefer to hire Americans if they can. Marginal companies with heavy dependence on cheap labor could well go out of business entirely, thus turning more of the labor class out on the street.

Once you begin to control the commodity labor, there is no end to government interference in our lives. President Bush has abandoned the conservative side completely on this matter. Now we must look to minimizing the damage he can do before leaving office.

Labels: Minimum wage

# posted by Mannning @ 9:42 PM