Need a good laugh?

[pauljmccain]

This guy needs to take a principles of economics class. I kind of understand where he's coming from, but it still doesn't make any sense.

[KingRobbStark]

Everything should be run by the FED, and that way we can get paid a billion dollars an hour. That is true progress.

[Professor8000]

The only reason we can’t have it is the greed of those at the top and the intransigence of those at the near-top. The only reason we can’t have it is that we don’t want it.

lol yeah, greed... I know some small business owners who make less money than their employees. I do believe that most workers in the US are employed by small businesses. Gotta hate that small businessman's greed.

[Steven Douglas]

An interesting side-effect however of a minimum wage would be that it would cut down on illegal immigration and encourage capital investment (not saying we should have minimum wage though).

How so? Conventional wisdom says the exact opposite. Increasing the minimum wage prices many legal laborers out of the market, while enlarging the black market that already exists for under-the-table dealings with people (read=illegal immigrants) willing to take less for their labor and not report it. Hell, day laborers in front of Home will work for $7, but $10 is the going rate they're shooting for; more if it's truly backbreaking, labor intensive, or requiring a skill set of some kind. Raising the minimum wage would only place upward pressure on demand for black market laborers willing to undercut it.

[idiom]

We could have a minimum wage of $25 easily if we simply embraced the truth of LVT.

[matt0611]

Why haven't other countries discovered this? Why don't poor countries like Bangladesh just make minimum wage at $25 an hour? boom! instant prosperity!

[rpwi]

How so? Conventional wisdom says the exact opposite. Increasing the minimum wage prices many legal laborers out of the market, while enlarging the black market that already exists for under-the-table dealings with people (read=illegal immigrants) willing to take less for their labor and not report it.

Oh, absolutely. But I think a good percentage of labor done by illegal immigrants is quasi-legal. The businesses (fast-food, construction, janitorial, etc...) properly pay FICA and document their workers....just that most illegals use forged ID's. For these quasi-legal employees, they can't get cash under the table if a minimum wage shuts them out of the work-place which will result in unemployment and a disincentive to come into the US.

[specsaregood]

You guys are all missing the point. The author has identified a real problem, unfortunately he misses the solution and instead proposes a bandaid to cover the bleeding wound.

edit: it is not funny or something I'm gonna laugh at, it is insidious. fortunately this is one area where we have made great progress in educating people.

And to answer his question:

Can you imagine Americans of 1968 settling for a minimum wage standard of living that had been set based on 1924 standards?

Yes, I can imagine it. As between 1968 and 1924 the dollar only lost about half of its value. Whereas between '68 and present the value of the dollar is about a 1/10th of a dollar. Huge difference there. I wonder what major change to our money happened between 68 and present...hmmmm.

[ShaneEnochs]

I'd take a $5/hr job if it was relatively close to my house. I'd work the shit out of that job.

[silverhandorder]

We could have a minimum wage of $25 easily if we simply embraced the truth of LVT.

Stop your lies it would be 50$/h!