There are many reasons to oppose minimum wage laws. Simple analysis of supply and demand shows that wage rates, when artificially held above the market rate, result in more unemployement than there would be otherwise. There is a larger supply of labor at this minimum wage rate than demand for labor from employers, which keeps the labor markets from clearing as is their natural tendency.
Moreover, the labor laws violate the nonaggression axiom since government uses force against businesses to enact their labor laws. They violate the liberty of employee and employer to exchange labor for money at whatever rate they choose and thus violate the right to contract.
And if you do not want to think about these arguments against minimum wage laws, then just watch the video of the repulsive Nancy Pelosi - leading career criminal in the House of Reps. Her refusal to answer any of the questions directly says it all. She gets so rattled that she also tries to call the guard on Helfeld. Very entertaining.
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Ten percent of Virginians are in poverty today—740,000 people—163,000 more than when President Bush first took office. The low level of the minimum wage is a key part of the problem.
A worker in Virginia earning minimum wage must work 125 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. That would require working nearly 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. In fact, the current minimum wage doesn’t provide enough income to enable minimum wage workers to afford adequate housing in any area of this country.
It’s a myth that increasing the minimum wage causes unemployment. In the four years after the 1997 minimum wage increase, Virginia experienced great economic growth. Nearly 265,000 new jobs were created. Unemployment dropped from 4.1 percent in 1997 to 2.4 percent in 2000.
An increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 would help lift tens of thousands of hardworking Virginia out of poverty and toward more secure and more productive lives.
No one who works full time should have to live in poverty.
Thank you for your comment.
I agree that President Bush has been terrible for this country and this economy.
I wish that you would consider two points. First, by axiomatic deduction, it can be proven that an increase in the minimum wage increases will result in unemployment all else being equal. To disagree would be to reject the laws of marginal utility and thus supply and demand. You are citing the late 1990s when we were in a huge boom period (all else was not equal). In spite of minimum wage raises, the demand for labor increased by a large enough amount to result in a need gain in employment.
Second, I also sympathize with those struggling with poverty. The historical and logical evidence is overwhelmingly in support of capitalism (the US is not a free market capitalist country right now) as an economic system that lifts the masses out of poverty, allows for tremendous social mobility, and creates the strongest middle class. So if you really support helping the poor, then you should reject all government attempts at economic planning and price setting. Just consider the Federal Reserve. They set the price of money and inflate the money supply, thereby increasing the cost of everyday items that we purchase. This is a tremendously regressive tax on the poor but it is a great benefit to Wallstreet and those who are well-connected with the government.
I recommend Murray Rothbard's "What has government done to our money" if you are interested in a more thorough handling of these issues.
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