BIRT minimum wage should be raised in the United States

That was a very interesting response, and I see that this debate might not be a pushover. I would again like to remind my opponent that he is arguing that the government should legislate that the minimum wage be raised from $7.25 to $8.25. In you previous speech you stated "That's my point its will just happen without the government forcing companies to raise people's wages." I don't understand the point you are trying to make here. McDonalds will not just raise their wages unless forced to by the government. To state that a company would voluntarily pay their workers more is egregious. You stated "The American Dream includes the opportunity for prosperity and success" and "come out of Mexico and work in the field hard and can't even support your family there is a problem". The first thing I would like to point out here is that the opportunity for prosperity and success does not mean that if you move to America you are entitled to money to support your family. If you read a little farther in the article that you provided for the definition of the american dream you may notice "opportunity for Americans to achieve prosperity through hard work." I would ask my opponent if Mexicans who just immigrate to the country are Americans? The answer for this question is implied inside of it and that is Mexicans are not Americans. Now I will return to the resolution and we should talk no more about the american dream. I would be open to a different debate on weather the american dream would apply to immigrants. "I want to see the source". That's not how this works. This is a basic economic principle called the law of supply and demand. But I suppose, to give you a worthy debate I will go fully in depth in the effects of raising the minimum wage. Before I begin I would just like to point out that using a slippery slope fallacy does not actually make a point invalid. There are cases where a slope is used because it is actually what happens after an event. Its like saying that after a shooting the police will close down the place where the shooting happened. This is a fact and protocol, and will happen, and is therefore not a slippery slope. Because you asked, I will now fully explain the law of supply and demand, along with the effects of raising the minimum wage to a very high degree of scrutiny, including sources, so that you cannot state that it is a slippery slope. I have not seen you make one proper rebuttal or argument, yet you call me out on an improper fallacy. Here we go. I will now define some key terms: The law of supply states that the quantity of a good supplied (i.e., the amount owners or producers offer for sale) rises as the market price rises, and falls as the price falls. Conversely, the law of demand (see demand) says that the quantity of a good demanded falls as the price rises, and vice versa. [1] When you raise the minimum wage, it is obvious that companies will have to pay their workers more. That is an absolute fact. To make ends meet or keep the profit that the company is making the company has two choices to keep their profit the same. The company can either raise the prices of its products or fire workers. This is also a fact. Now lets take a look at the first option, to raise the prices. So the workers wage rise and the prices of all the products rise also. Here is the definition of inflation: In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. [2] You can see that the prices will be raised, which fits the definition of inflation. Now we have established that raising the minimum wage will cause inflation. Now the next thing I must address is the problem with inflation. The problem is that this type of inflation is not natural or gradual like the definition above. This would actually cause hyperinflation. Hyperinflation: When associated with depressions, hyperinflation often occurs when there is a large increase in the money supply not supported by gross domestic product (GDP) growth, resulting in an imbalance in the supply and demand for the money. Left unchecked this causes prices to increase, as the currency loses its value. [3] We can see that this raise in the prices of items is not gradual, and not supported by the GDP and is therefore hyperinflation. Hyper inflation is horrible as no investors will invest in the country and no citizens will be able to buy anything as the currency loses its value faster then the wages increase. Now we can take a look at the other path which is that the company lays off workers. Higher minimum wage would not only kill existing jobs but also result in closing a substantial number of small businesses, from 15-20%. [4] To reduce the cost of workers but still keep the productivity the same, the company might use electronic labor, such as McDonalds. [5] Now the jobs are gone and the prices are higher. Now it is a fact that when people are un-employed the government must hand out un-employment benefits. That does mean that the government must pay out more money to the workers, and thus the government is more in debt or cuts social spending. Now that we have cleared up the fact that workers will lose jobs and inflation will occur we can finally draw the conclusion to the aggregate of all these problems. This is stagflation. Stagflation is a condition of slow economic growth and relatively high unemployment accompanied by rising prices, or inflation, and a decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).[6] Now how does this occur. Usually, when unemployment is high, spending declines, as do prices of goods. Stagflation occurs when the prices of goods rise while unemployment increases and spending declines. Stagflation can prove to be a particularly tough problem for governments to deal with due to the fact that most policies designed to lower inflation tend to make it tougher for the unemployed, and policies designed to ease unemployment raise inflation. [7] Now we can look back on the facts that I have presented. People are laid off and the prices of goods rise. Spending will also decline due to both of these factors. So we can conclude that since it fits these factors, raising the minimum wage will cause stagflation. So I will now connect the dots back to minimum wage. When the minimum wage rises, it causes inflation and layoffs which can, and most likely will lead to stagflation. The government will have to spend more and cut costs. We can obviously draw the conclusion that the government requires its worker numbers at a certain level, so it cannot lay off the workers, and have to pay them more. We can assume then that the government will be stretched thin as it is paying unemployment benefits and its workers more. We can see that this will lead to less investment, debt for the country and overall a bad economy. I wonder how my opponent can advocate for the minimum wage to be raised, after encountering all these facts?! Sources: 1. http://www.econlib.org... 2. https://en.wikipedia.org... 3. http://www.investopedia.com... 4. http://www.investopedia.com... 5. http://newsexaminer.net... 6. http://www.investopedia.com... 7. http://www.investopedia.com...