21 States Increase Minimum Wage

By Douglas V. Gibbs

A living wage, they call it.  The goal is $15 per hour.  But with every pro comes a con.  On the surface a raise seems like a good thing, but when the raise is induced by government, and it is an across the board increase in wages, the cost of production also goes up.  After the prices rise, the increase of the minimum wage loses any gain, because with the rise of prices, so follows the overall cost of living.

Small items, like a burger at the local fast food joint, will go up in price first.  Eventually, the increase in wages will raise prices across the board, and to keep the doors open, businesses will have to hope people will pay the new prices, or figure out a way to keep their prices down, which usually means getting rid of employees.  So, in the search for a living wage, many of the people that supported the minimum wage increase may find themselves without a wage at all.

Twenty-one States are increasing their minimum wage.  We are told this will help the poor.

South of where I live is San Diego County.  The wages in San Diego are higher than Riverside and Los Angeles counties.  Therefore, a lot of people live in the areas closer to Los Angeles, but drive down into San Diego to work.  In San Diego, the cost of living is also higher.  And with such high prices, despite a higher wage, the poor struggle even more under the weight of a higher cost of living.

The call for a living wage will then become a vicious cycle that will continue and continue to tear into itself, until finally the cost of living is so high the middle class will be destroyed, and there will be two groups. . . the very rich, and the very poor.

In the United States the "poor" live better than 90 percent of the rest of the world, but if they keep demanding increases in the minimum wage, it won't take long before businesses close their doors, prices become unreachable, and the poor in the United States become very poor, and know the poverty that exists in other countries where the government also engineers the economy.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Minimum Wage Will Rise in 21 States This Week - USA Today