DDO Olympics: Abolish The Minimum Wage

Thanks for accepting! I'm honestly a bit surprised that my opponent accepted this topic as it's very clear to me that the minimum wage is necessary and morally correct in our economy. To be clear, the resolution states that *ALL* minimum wages, including those that the state sets, should be abolished. Throughout the course of the debate I'll be defending the position that state's should set their minimum wage according to the living wage in that area and adjust it constantly according to inflation. Sorry that this is a little sloppy, I ran out of time: First of all, any program to increase the minimum wage needs to be flexible to support small businesses: The Star Tribune, July 27 2015 "Minnesota's minimum wage rises to $9 per hour Saturday" "Minnesota will vault past Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota this week to gain the highest minimum wage in the Midwestern region at $9 an hour, which also will rank among the most-generous state wage floors in the country. Small Minnesota employers " those with annual gross revenue below $500,000 " still will be permitted to pay workers less, with their minimum wage matching the federal minimum. Businesses can also pay trainees at the lower rate for 90 days, and teens can be paid less, too." The minimum wage bill passed by the Minnesota state legislature this year included stipulations that aimed at reducing the burden placed on small businesses through delayed wage hikes, I'm in favor of doing the exact same in other cities and states in the US. A minimum wage floor that addresses varying regional costs of living will be able to provide a living wage to all who need it: The Pew Research Center, Aug. 3 2015 "The real value of a $15 minimum wage depends on where you live" "Honolulu is the most expensive metro area in the U.S. " a $15 national minimum wage would have a real purchasing power of $12.24 there. Beckley, West Virginia, has the lowest RPP (regional price parity) of any metro area in the nation, so a $15 minimum would have the purchasing power of $19.23 there. (Allentown, Pennsylvania, incidentally, has an RPP of exactly 100, making it the only metro area where $15 really would mean $15. If the goal were to guarantee low-paid workers everywhere in the country the same real purchasing power, that would require hundreds of different minimum wages, scaled to each locality"s cost of living. For example, giving everyone the same purchasing power that $15 has in New York City would cost $13.07 in Chicago; $12 in Fresno, California; $11.10 in Cincinnati; and just $10.43 in Anniston, Alabama." So I agree that federal minimum wages are terrible. However, state minimum wages are necessary as they subsidize low wage workers. We also see huge benefits from the minimum wage in the economy, reducing the costs associated with it: Increased Consumption "Poor people are what economists call 'borrowing constrained.' They tend to have more needs than are being met, so when money arrives, they spend it." http://www.bloomberg.com... Money that minimum wage workers receive is spent right away and basically just sent right back to businesses, stimulating the economy. According to a paper released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, "an increase of $1.75 in the hourly federal minimum wage raises aggregate household spending by roughly $48 billion in the year following the minimum wage hike" https://www.chicagofed.org... The evidence clearly demonstrates that minimum wage increases help the economy due to the fact that poor people are able to meet their economic potential and spend more in our economy. Higher Productivity Workers who have greater income security also experience less poverty-related stress, which further boosts their productivity. A report from the Industrial and Labor Relations Review found that "high-wage firms can sometimes offset more than half of their higher wage costs through improved productivity and lower hiring and turnover costs". http://www.jstor.org... Corporate Tax Cuts Because the minimum wage would ensure that way more minimum wage workers receive a living wage, the government would need less money to spend on welfare. As a result, we could implement a corporate tax cut which further lessens the burden on companies. In closure, the minimum wage *I* propose would: ensure that those who are willing to work receive a living wage, would be based off of regional costs, and ultimately not even hurt the economy at a considerable rate. It's morally correct for the government to look after it's people and try to reduce suffering as much as possible. For these reasons, I affirm.