Author: Chuck Wright
Publication: Daily Camera
Date: 08/05/16
John Tweedy, Mara Abbott, Michelle Estrella and Judy Amabile of the Camera’s Editorial Advisory Board expressed some misguided opinions about the minimum wage (” $12 by 2020″).
Tweedy writes, “Something must be done to redress the moral wrong of life at $8.31 per hour.”
But which is really immoral: a) peacefully engaging in a voluntary mutually beneficial business relationship, or b) forcibly stopping such a relationship because the wage is politically incorrect?
Force is the key ingredient of the minimum wage law. Without force, the minimum wage would just be a suggestion or recommendation.
Using force to achieve political or social goals is not love, social justice, peaceful, or moral. Instead it’s barbaric, unjust, and immoral. It’s “do things my way or else.” And it doesn’t magically become moral if smart people, the majority, or politicians approve.
Abbott has a Utopian view that people should be paid at least according to their needs and the state of the economy; however, people should be paid based on the value employers place on their labor.
Estrella claims that “raising the minimum wage will help low-income women.” Suppose the value of what a particular woman can produce is $10 per hour. If the minimum wage is increased to $12 per hour, no private employer can afford to employ her because they’d lose $2 per hour. How is forcing her into unemployment helping her?
Amabile claims that “Nobody can get by on $8.31 per hour,” but most do because the typical minimum wage earner is under 26, lives in their parent’s home and is covered by their parent’s health insurance.
There is no shortcut to increasing one’s income. It requires effort and hard work to acquire skills that perspective employers value.
Instead of increasing the minimum wage, we should be discussing repealing it altogether.
Chuck Wright
Westminster
