The Case For the Minimum Wage

So Pro hasn't remarked on my attack of her dishonest sourcing from the last round, so I'll take that as a concession on that point. Her point, “Why doesn't the Minimum Wage kill jobs?” is also misleadingly sourced. She says that the Minimum Wage has no discernible effect on the economy. There are 2 problems with this statement: First of all, her quote points out how a tiny raise in the minimum wage wouldn't hurt employers much. This is way different than saying that the Minimum Wage itself doesn't have a discernible economic effect. Secondly, since my opponent suddenly argues that the Minimum Wage has no discernible effect on the economy, then why is she even having this debate? She argues at great length about the reasons that make the minimum wage beneficial, even necessary to the economy, but then closes the previous round by saying the Minimum Wage doesn't even do anything! If the Minimum Wage doesn't do anything, then it is a pointless law, and there shouldn't be any opposition to doing away with a pointless law. So vote for me, because I agree that this law should have never been written. “However, the public has good reasons to prevent economic collapse before it happens; it is a matter of simple self-defense.” What do you mean by “the public”? The government? Because the government has an awful track record of meddling with the economy in the name of “preventing economic collapse”. Case in point: The Fed has already admitted to causing the Great Depression by meddling with the economy!4 “The additional costs in wages only represent a small portion of total operating expenses, and can easily be passed on to consumers.” Easily passed on? So forcing a company to raise it's prices isn't a big deal? Easy to say when you aren't the one trying to start a business in this already difficult economy. “For example, if Congress were to enact a raise in the minimum wage to $9.80/hour, and the entire additional labor costs were passed on to consumers, the increased cost would be barely noticeable.” Of course, because the politicians know how to run the business of every single mom-and-pop store in America better than the managers themselves. Apparently the members of Congress, 80% of whom have studied neither business nor economics, should be given free reign over every private enterprise in the country!1 “All of these multi-billion dollar companies have seen record profits, and all of them can easily afford fair pay for the women and men who made these companies successful.” Yea, and they can easily afford to add Doge to Mount Rushmore alongside the Presidents. Hmmmm... Actually, let the record state that I strongly support the addition of Doge to the Mount Rushmore carvings. Also, what is “fair pay,” exactly, and who determines what this amount is? In the last round you said it was $15 per hour, but you sourced a blog entry that said literally nothing to support your arbitrary preferred minimum wage. You've also made no comments yet in response to me pointing this out. Allow me to pose another question (or two): Why shouldn't the Minimum Wage be set at $20 per hour? Why not $50, or even $100? Even if you were to argue that an objective “fair pay” standard actually exists, it would be impossible to determine, given the constantly fluctuating value of the dollar. There is also the issue of differences in amount of labor performed per hour within different companies. Why should someone digging a ditch have the same minimum wage as someone sitting in an air-conditioned room testing video games? That is yet another huge problem with the Minimum Wage law. “Where are all the mass layoffs? They just never happened.” The Bureau of Business Research begs to differ2; they reported that the increase in the Federal Minimum Wage in July of 2008 resulted in the lay off of 16O,OOO.OO workers! That's pretty massive, if you ask me. So much for “no discernible effect on the economy”. The findings of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee also contradicts your statements. They did a paper reporting the results of 50 years of research on the Minimum Wage, and what did they conclude? Word for word, I quote: “The minimum wage reduces employment.”3 (emphasis mine) Have fun in this last round defending your economic fantasies against the Bureau of Business Research and the Congressional Join Economic Committee. 1http://www.politico.com... 2http://cms.bsu.edu... 3http://www.jec.senate.gov... 4http://www.federalreserve.gov... (last paragraph)