Ben Sugg essay was very much to the point.

However, “minimum-wage” discussion has always had a fatal-flaw: traditional minimum wage-rate is almost always far below the actual “minimum” charged by the market. As such it’s pretty much irrelavant.

In Santa Fe, however, “minimum wage” or “living wage” is currently about $10.50 and rising.

This is a problem, since this rate is substantially above realistic entry-level wages, and, as such, disqualifies many young and minority workers from finding employment.

As I’ve mentioned again and again, wage and price controls never work.

Cheers.

John Onstad

It speaks volumes about Unemployed America’s leadership, who are, or at least should be, well aware of the broader consequences of such policy enactments. Oh sure, you’ll have a lot of these folks who just don’t have the capacity to understand their own demands and actions…all sound, no substance. And, you can bet that there are those among them who completely understand, but who actually enjoy the idea of sticking it to the city’s youth and the working poor, while being cheered for it. But, it is shameful that those who do get it are nevertheless willing to rationalize it with the idea that a majority of those entry level workers who won’t get it, and would support the short-term distraction of that shinny dollar, will represent a proportional decrease of the total entry level employees, on a sliding inflationary adjusted basis.

You have wonder about the current ratio of the city’s available entry level jobs to its potential population of qualifying entry level workers, and perhaps some comparison of past, present and projected future ratios…factored of course for fleeing small businesses.

Initially, it certainly sounds like a great idea to receive that extra buck, alongside of some inflation adjustments, going forward, but what happens if that buck just isn’t available within the current or future economic environment?

What happens if Mom and Pop’s Burger Shop can’t clear that additional buck expense per hour, per employee, per cost to produce that burger? What happens if Mom and Pop’s “regulars” choose not to pay that extra buck in the price of their burger? What happens if the combination of more printed money, more global competition, and more limited resources begins to show up as real and lasting inflation? What happens to the price of those pickles to go on that burger?

• Awh, come on dude, that’s not Albuquerque…that can’t affect me…plus you should stay away from the red meat.

Okay then, why not just raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour, right now? Why not?

• Come on bro, you and I both know that those corporate fat cats can afford to fork it up.

Look, homeslice, as far as I know, Goldman Sachs isn’t screening or hiring for minimum wage workers. So then, back to Mom and Pop’s Burgers, or Joe’s Barber Shop, or Sally’s Salon, or whatever…do you really think they will be able to afford to keep the kid around just to sweep up and eventually learn the register, at a higher minimum cost to them?

I can tell you why they don’t just jack it up to $20, $30, $40, or even $50 per hour…it’s because they don’t want you to get it. They don’t want you to even think twice about the broader implications of their demands, or, that employers might not be able to afford them, last year, now or in the future.

The truth is that when organized mobs, not free markets, demand higher wages without higher production and higher demand for products produced, potential employers can no longer afford to be generous with their jobs, or the training that takes place at those jobs.

And when employers can no longer afford to be generous with their jobs, they get creative. And when employers get creative, folks who were once employed in the task of building U.S. automobiles get replaced by robots, or, folks who were once employed in the task of producing U.S. Steel get replaced by China.

Don’t get replaced by robots…or China.