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The Minimum Wage Debate and the Little Secret…

dollar sign

There’s a little secret about the minimum wage that neither side seems to be talking about.

I’m not delving into the debate itself–I believe it should be between the employee and the employer, and that benefits should stay benefits, rather that requirements. But all that aside…

Have you noticed, as the movement has spread across the states, how, despite sometimes drastic differences in cost of living between areas, the dollar amount is the same?

Here’s why, and here’s the little secret they aren’t talking about: it’s not about the money. It’s about power and control.

If raising the minimum wage was the solution to so many of society’s ills, why stop at $15/hr? Why not $25? $44.25? Or heck, why not just mandate a yearly salary of $62,500? (That number, by the way, I just made up off the top of my head, just like the $15/hr number…)

So now, tell me in the comments where I’ve gone wrong.

There’s a little secret about the minimum wage that neither side seems to be talking about. I’m not delving into the debate itself–I believe it should be between the employee and the employer, and that benefits should stay benefits, rather that requirements. But all that aside… Have you noticed, as the movement has spread across…

2 Comments

  1. $15 National minimum wage is based on an average minimum income to lift workers out of poverty. A national minimum, once applied would end up raising wages in more expensive areas even more due to employers competing for workers. It would also provide a boon for the economy as people who make more, spend more. This had already been shown to be true in some European countries and in Seattle in the US. Right now, 95% of revenues head straight to the top. It’s time to give workers their due. Without them, there is no revenue and no economy.

    1. Here’s why the party line doesn’t hold water: as an *average* (your own words), it’s not taking cost of living differences into account. So that means it is, by definition, shorting some, and giving excess to some. It is, then, unfair…but also means that in places where COL is higher, you’re not helping them as claimed, because that $15/hr doesn’t go as far as other places.