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Originally Posted by classhandicapper
mostpost,
I agree with you to some extent.
Raising the minimum wage DOES transfer "some" income into the hands of "some" workers which gives them more purchasing power that they can then spend on products and services.
The problem is that's not 1 for 1 to the impacted companies.
If your theory was correct, we could simply make the minimum wage $100 an hour and eliminate poverty for everyone forever. Even you would probably admit that won't work.
Ask yourself why.
It might work something like this.
You raise the minimum wage. It costs some SPECIFIC companies that hire minimum wage workers 10K off their bottom line. It costs others nothing. That 10k gets spent back, but it's spent throughout the economy. It helps many companies a little bit. It doesn't help the impacted companies 10k worth. A little bit of extra profit to a lot of companies doesn't lead to as much hiring as a 10k loss to some specific companies. The former make a few extra dollars on a narrow margin. The latter have to close shop. So the net is that some jobs and some of that income evaporates.
Some minimum wage workers are better off.
Some companies are very slightly better off.
Some minimum wage companies and workers are totally screwed.
The net is a negative because some income and jobs evaporate.
It's a highly complex subject. It's very difficult to control for all the variables in employment so you can isolate just the impact of minimum wage and prove it. That's why people are frowning upon your data. But if you look at what real businesses do in response, you'll see the flaw in your thinking.
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On Jan. 1, 2016 the minimum wage in Seattle will go up fifty cents an hour. That means that any full time worker earning minimum wage will have $1040 more in his pocket at the end of the year. How can that not result in more money being spent. The people involved here are not going to put that money in the bank. They are going to buy things for their family that they were unable to buy previously; necessary things.
Raising the minimum wage to $15 (over a period of time) is good. Raising it to $100 is obviously not good. Your claim that anyone thinks it is a good idea is foolish-or dishonest. But, because you should not raise the minimum to $110 an hour, is not a reason to forego raising it to $15 an hour.
