Political Post: Increasing the Minimum Cost

I've been seeing this on the news and Facebook a lot lately. And rather than respond to every post I see in regards to it, I feel it is just better to write a blanket statement here. If this starts debate, fine. But I'm airing my opinion here and now on the matter because I feel like people aren't looking at the bigger picture. This is probably the first political post I've done in awhile, and it's on the idea of raising the minimum wage.

First, let me concede that, from a personal financial standpoint, yes, I understand the desire to raise the minimum wage. Things are getting more expensive all the time (movies alone used to be $5 for matinee and are now upwards of $10 and this changed only in the past 4 YEARS). I understand that there are single-parent families out there who are barely getting by supporting their respective families on the minimum wage and they're not getting raises any time soon, despite the fact they are working as hard as possible to make it happen.

It's tough for a lot of people and we can all agree it isn't going to get any easier. But can I ask something? Am I really the only one who sees the flaw in demanding higher minimum wages across the board? Because I think people are forgetting the most important thing to factor in. If we raise minimum wage, where does that extra money come from? If a grocery store raises the minimum wage it pays its employees, where on Earth is the money coming from to pay those people more?

The fault I see in the logic of raising minimum wage is that things become more expensive to balance that out. Your food gets more expensive at the grocery store so the bag boy can make his $11/hour. The movies and concessions get more expensive at the theater so the janitor at the cinema can make her $11/hour. You get my point. My point being that by making it possible for entity X to get more resources, they have to exhaust more resources from entity Y. And since entity Y will run out of resources quickly to make good with entity X, they have to push that cost somewhere. So entity Y forces the cost on entity Z (consumers) to recoup those loses. As such, no one wins because all that extra money earned will just go to paying more expensive things. Made more expensive solely BECAUSE we (you) pushed for higher minimum wages. And then, in probably another 8 years, we'll demand wages be raised again because people are tired of not being able to afford things only to repeat this pathetically stupid cycle again.

The reason I bring this up is because I recently saw a picture in regards to this. The CEO of Dairy Queen had made a statement, saying he would love to raise the minimum wage so that everyone could earn a “fair wage” and continued to say that the current minimum wage leave plenty in a state of poverty. And while there is SOME truth to that, the fact it is said by the CEO of a big nation-wide company makes the whole statement lose any real meaning. If you honestly felt like the current minimum wage is that big a problem, then set the fucking example and pay ALL of your employees more, the amount you think they're worth. Don't rely on the government to force YOUR COMPANY to do it for you. This is hypocrisy at its finest.

This harkens back to the big “Smoking Section” ban that started way back in 2006 (I think, at least in my state). For those who don't remember, it was a big government push to make a law where various establishments (restaurants were the big target here, but any public indoor place) would not be allowed to have a Smoking Section. Now, I don't smoke and I don't like being around smokers. But there are people who smoke that still should be allowed to have their own section to be served. Restaurants should have a choice in the matter as to how they want their establishment to function. If they lose sales because they have a smoking section, then they'll change. If not, then they were clearly right and shouldn't be forced to change.

What I'm getting at is that if people want to have higher minimum wages, don't bitch and whine to your government to do it. Don't force it on everyone, forcing the cost on everyone. Stop being so shortsighted and realize what raising the minimum wage will, ultimately do. If you think that Target should be paying YOU more, than tell them to pay you and the other employees more. If you think that Sears, HyVee, CostCo, Barnes & Noble, Pepsi or whoever else then you should be airing your grievances at THEM because its how they choose to run their company. And if you don't like it, tell them or find somewhere else to work that will listen to the employees.

Taking this a step farther, now, let's discuss those who “need” this minimum wage increase. Single parents? How did you get into that situation where you were a single parent? Unplanned pregnancy due to unprotected sex? Father/mother who left and refuses to pay child support? If the former, then your financial situation is your own fault and I could care less if you can't keep your financial situation in check. You made a choice. It was a bad one. You could have not had sex. You could have had protection. You could have aborted or put the kid up for adoption. But you choose everything that put you into a financially shit situation and the government should have NO obligation to help you in any way because you're an idiot. As for the latter, force it out of him. You likely got a divorce attorney to make sure the other parent lived up to their end of the bargain, so keep on that.

My point is, it is and has been, possible to live on low (and lower wages) before. And driving the wages up is only going to drive costs up. It's not going to solve the problem and the only thing that will is by telling people to stop making such terrible life decisions, putting them in crappy financial situations. But, no. It's just easier to have the government fix it by throwing more worthless practically non-existent money at the problem than to actually put work into improve your life and the lives of those around you. It's that backwards logic that doesn't make sense to me and I'm hoping that you'll wake up years from now, look back and see just how this circular logic got us to where we'll end up.

Hm... I thought this argument might last me longer but it actually ended up quite short. Now I'm a bit disappointed. …

I guess come back for more posts on more things. Hopefully things less political and more fun and game-related.