Raising the minimum wage would help get America out of its recession.

My opponent's fundamental flaw in logic is that he assumes that companies do not pay people more because they do not want to. This is not the case. Raising the minimum wage would immediately increase unemployment (it costs more to hire people), especially in poor families. My opponent overlooks this, and this undoes some of his case. The rest lies in the lack of economic knowledge that my opponent has, and there are a variety of logical flaws in his arguments. As to my opponent's rebuttal: ______________________________ A) My opponent contends that the minimum wage has not kept up with inflation. However, to raise it causes price inflation. So, with my opponent's logic, we could increase the minimum wage over and over again, causing inflation until it gets to the point where the dollar is useless, as it was in pre-Hitler Germany. The link between raising the minimum wage and inflation is a flaw in my opponent's second subpoint. B) My opponent contends that a company will lose business by raising prices. This is not the case, because the entire industry is forced to raise their prices. With an increased employment expense, a business will need a means to generate more revenue to stay afloat, and the easiest way to do that is to raise prices. All companies in the industry will do this. This is called Price Inflation (not to be confused with Monetary Inflation). Further, a company will meet this new expense by cutting expenditures, most likely now-more-expensive employees. However, if this is not an option, they will simply raise prices. Inflation and unemployment are not good for a recession, as my other points have contended. 1. While some people will make more money, the rest will lose their jobs. With less employed people, the economy suffers, as there is less people that can spend. So, there is no way that this will make employees richer, unless the companies raise prices, which ultimately undoes their riches with inflation. 2. Raising the minimum wage would not allow for families to have more economic security, because either they lose their jobs or the cost of everything increases. So, this point is also null. 3. "Raising the minimum wage would decrease the amount of days a worker is absent and increase overall productivity. " My opponent has not sourced this. This statement is not based in fact and is a meager assumption. 4. Raising the minimum wage would only 'help' the workers earning near the minimum wage, and it isn't really helping them because (again) their costs of living go up and/or they lose their job. 5. "If these families cannot make their bank payments because they don't have enough money because of the minimum wage, then the banks will fail" Actually, banks only fail after their client's bankruptcy if the loan was sub-prime. And again, my opponent's point is null because the value of what they make is ultimately the same as it was before (unless they lose their job) with the exception that after the inflation resulting from an increased minimum wage will cause the banks to lose money. 6. I would like to use an analogy. I see a tree. I spit on the ground. A lumberjack comes and chopes the tree down. Therefore, my spitting caused the tree to fall. There is no link between minimum wage and male-female income gaps. The cause for the increases in income gaps is commonly linked to other factors, such as births and a rise in pregnancy. (Source: Economic Facts and Fallacies [Male-Female Facts and Fallacies Chapter]) 7. My opponent pulls an argument from Bill Clinton's talking points. What is not considered in these statistics is the the price inflation that would result in this extra money being worth less, and the costs of living increasing (higher rent and more expensive groceries). 8. My opponent has the same logical fallacy as in 6. He uses the same list of Bill Clinton's talking points as in most of the rest of his arguments. Bill Clinton does not elaborate as to which years his 'research' used and included and what it was about, when it was done. There is not way to verify this information. Further, the statistics that Bill Clinton used were not from recession situations. This is a common political technique called 'drive-by'. Therefore, one cannot trust these statistics and it is likely that the reasons for the decreased unemployment were not an increased minimum wage, as Clinton insisted. 9. "we cannot build up and advance technologically. " Creating inflation that will set up misery for the banking system and unemployment for the economy will not spur new technologies. During the Great Depression, very few 'new' technologies were developed. However, the 1950s were a time of great innovation. . http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com... "Many companies hesitated to innovate during the 1930s. Consider, for example, patent applications as a proxy for resources devoted to innovation. The growth rate of US patent applications by companies with R&D laboratories was considerably lower during the 1930s than in the preceding decade. " . http://www.ddmcd.com... (Uses 1950s as an example as a time with amazing and impressive innovation. ) So, my opponent's point is flat out false and disproven by the very history he feels is on his side. __________________________________________________________ "that there has NEVER been jobs lost when the minimum wage increases. (4)" My opponent again sources Bill Clinton's talking points. I have already discussed the irrelevance of this source. "In the past, raising the minimum wage decreases inflation, reduces the amount of people in poverty, and stimulates the economy. (6)" Another lie; raising the minimum wage leads to price inflation and does not 'decrease' inflation at all; it causes an increase in unemployment (leading to more people in poverty); and harms the economy. Conclusion: ***************************************** I thank my opponent for this economic debate. My opponent's argument is based in economic and logical fallacy. Raising the minimum wage leads to A)unemployent and price inflation , which B) leads to other problems. B has been conceded by PRO. Raising the minimum wage will worsen the current recession. Therefore, it will not 'help get America out of its recession'.