V 1.3
Minimum Wage
Half the country doesn’t work for a wage.
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Reread that sentence. Read it again. Again. Take it in. Internalize it. Think about it. How does that fact affect your perception of our economy, how Americans interact with society, and proposals like a minimum wage increase? Take your time.
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A minimum wage increase will cause inflation. Labor is less than 100% of the cost of products and services, so the half of the country who work for a wage would be better off despite that inflation. But what about the other half?
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Many folks are fighting for a $15/hr federal minimum wage or higher. If we implemented that in isolation, it would hurt over 100 million Americans who are more even more vulnerable than those work for minimum wage. This includes folks who are on fixed incomes like seniors and people with disabilities. Homeless people would be hurt the most by an isolated federal minimum wage increase. These negative effects would be felt most strongly in rural areas where labor is a much larger percentage of costs.
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If an increase in the federal minimum wage was accompanied by an increase in everyone’s fixed incomes, I could maybe get on board with it, though it could still be problematic for those who live on minimal fixed incomes that aren’t funded by the federal government. I think a far better solution would be the Freedom Dividend. Instead of begging for better treatment in exchange for labor that is demeaning or unnecessary, we should look toward a future where the jobs we don’t want are handled by automation and people are free to decide what to do with their time without being a slave to corporations to “deserve” their basic needs.
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Stop asking for nicer chains. Fight for freedom.
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I support municipalities and some states increasing their minimum wages where deemed appropriate. I do think it’s morally abhorrent to pay people anything less than a thriving wage for full-time labor, but I’m focused on practical solutions that will empower people to bargain for better wages where they do want to work, especially as modern union-busting tactics have successfully reduced and prevented collective bargaining. Minimum wage is for the twentieth century. Universal Basic Income is for the twenty-first century.