To: Alighieri who wrote (956626 ) 8/14/2016 3:52:42 PM From: i-node Read Replies (3) | Respond to That's a really crappy opinion piece you dug up...even Bloomberg's editorial board doesn't stand behind it. Now here's a comprehensive study. that shows a much clearer result..so the question is WHY? WHY are people like you opposed to what is effectively economically neutral and individually beneficial? I can understand the politician's motivation considering political contributions and money that flows to keep him/her in office...but why is the common republican opposed to what is basically in his and his family's best interest? McArdle is probably one of the best writers out there today on these subjects. I had no trouble understanding her points. But forget that. The truth is we can find articles all over the place on both sides of the fence. But the credible ones clearly show that minimum wages cost jobs. The real argument is about how many. And naturally, that depends on where you are and what the minimum wage is. It is bizarre to me that those on the Left think that you can arbitrarily raise the cost of labor without reducing demand. I'm telling you I had economics in high school, maybe about the 11th grade, and we learned that the first week. How do you think that works? If something costs more, you're going to buy less of it. Period. In the case of labor, it is going to drive up the cost of production and the price of the goods, and you're going to sell less. There is going to be substitution -- and generally speaking -- when you're talking about commodity labor substitution is relatively cheap meaning that the rates of it will be high. When you are looking at an economy where automation is posing a huge problem already do you not think it is foolish to encourage substitution for labor at an even faster pace? You want to provide retraining -- as do I -- but it takes years. But none of it is important compared with the basic fact that it is racist. The people who are most damaged by the minimum wage are poor blacks, black teens, and other people of color. We know that. It isn't the subject of any debate. What we don't know with certainty is how bad it is. CBO estimated that an increase to $10.10 would put 500,000 people out of work, with an upper range of a million. OUT OF WORK. If someone wants to work for $3/hour, why in the hell do you think you should stand in their way?
