Just Plain Stupid

An increase in the minimum wage is a topic I am really passionate about because I am not for it -- it is appallingly shallow-minded. I believe I will just come right out and say the word that I really am thinking of: just plain stupid.

Go ahead politicians, raise the minimum wage. Distribute the wealth. Inequality is so not fair. The middle class is disappearing and we need to fix this massive problem by adding more government programs. Those are common phrases about a topic that is constantly appearing in headlines everywhere and a topic that many people are concerned about.

Before anyone makes the claim that I am oblivious, unconcerned, and uncaring because the poverty in our world today needs to be addressed... let me clarify why I believe that the increase in the minimum wage is a stupid idea.

When you force employers to pay employees more when they can't afford it, do you think they will hire more or fewer people? Do you think that they can afford to charge low prices? Do you think that they will increase the quality of their products? Do you think that employers will hire low-skilled workers like young people fresh out of high school who need the job experience and the money, ahead of older and more experienced college grads or seasoned highly skilled employees? What are the answers to these questions? 

There will be more unemployment, especially among low-skilled (probably low-income) people, there will be higher prices on the majority of goods and services, and the quality of certain products and services will go down. The employers will cut back because they want to still make a profit to keep the business afloat. Min wage is already making living harder for everyone, what do you think an increase will do?

The lower-income people will be hurt worse than everyone else, ironically –those are the very people that the minimum wage was designed to help. With the decrease in the possibility of getting a job when you really need it, an increase in prices, fewer choices of products and decreases in quality– poverty will increase. 

What needs to happen to decrease poverty and increase the standard of living for all Americans, is the demise of the minimum wage itself. Employers then can decide when they want to pay their employees more, and for what reasons. 

When an employer is doing extremely well due to the high demand for their product(s)/service(s), and the work environment is great due to good employees, then that employer will more than likely be able to afford to pay their employees more, possibly hire more workers, and increase the quality of their products, but at the same time always look for news ways of technology to incorporate into the business – lowering costs. The freedom of the employer will increase the standard of living for not just the people working for the company, but for everyone due to the increased quality of products and moderate to low costs. Of course, what I mean by low costs is the lowest cost possible, considering ever-rising inflation (which acts as a tax on all goods and services.)

However, when an employer is forced to pay their employees more, when those employees may or may not have been worth the raise (what I mean is not ultimately the worth of the employees themselves, but rather the relationship between their work and how much profit the company is making). If an employer cannot afford to pay more for their employees, then not only is the company worse off, but so are consumers. Higher costs of products all across the board mean that low-income people will not be able to afford certain products they once were able to afford, in addition to the cut-backs on quality that will make them worse off than before the wage hike.

Like many instances, government meddling decreases the standard of living for us all, but particularly the poor in this case. Let employers decide what they want to pay their employees. Competition in the free market for employees will increase the wage by itself, without a minimum price for employees.