I speak as a small business owner who has considered hiring employees in the past, but has found it too unprofitable to go down that road because of state regulations and minimum wages.
My thoughts:
1. If employees got paid in the amount they deserve there would be no incentive for business owners to employ them. The point is to make a profit off of their labor. There are benefits of stability and security with this arrangement but clear limitations. Once an employee becomes skilled enough and more profitable to the employer, they have more chips to bargain with. Raises or even working independently as a contractor become options. Unskilled or less profitable workers do not have these bargaining chips.
2. The only companies that are able to pay $15/hour for low skilled workers, as well as keep up with the slew of regulations that come with having employees, without raising prices substantially are the mega corporations with billions of $ and government employers who have access to tax revenue and $ printing presses. Small local businesses will get smaller and big corps will become stronger. We are already seeing this trend in the economy, mandating a raise in the minimum wage will make it worse.
3. $15/hour is an attractive amount for a higher class of worker. The poor, unskilled labor will find themselves out of work permanently as clean-cut collage graduates swoop in and gobble of these base level jobs.
4. A businesswoman (or man) will NEVER take a cut from her profits weather by regulation or tax increase. She will only see them as production costs and roll them into the prices for the service or product. The end results WILL BE higher prices for everything and for everyone.
I'm not saying these are fair outcomes -I believe there is clearly an economic imbalance that needs to be addressed*, but from my perspective as a small business owner, higher prices, less jobs, poorer poor seem to be the direct consequences of a universal minimum wage. On the surface it seems it would set things right, but as I've pointed out it will make these problems worse.
I do have a few ideas for solutions. If we want the opposite result: lower prices, more jobs, wealthier poor, I suggest we do the opposite. No minimum wage, less burdensome regulation, lower corporate taxes...Sounds like conservative rhetoric, so I'm going to take it to another place...
What I propose is a MAXIMUM living wage for politicians, government employees and employees of large corporations and banks who directly benefit from government benefits, contracts, subsidies or participate in lobbying for special advantages (that's most of them). These organizations should be under stringent regulations. Because of these regulations, people who seek government work and public money would be motivated by higher causes at the sacrifice of higher wages. All other businesses (like mine) dealing in the dangerous open market, unprotected from special government protections and privileges, should be free to do business without government interference and mandates.
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*The profit motive of business fed by the public funds and legislative favors from government (economic fascism) are a disastrous duo that leads to massive market distortions and political corruption. This combo is very common in modern America and I feel is at the core of the extreme imbalance of wealth distribution.
My thoughts:
1. If employees got paid in the amount they deserve there would be no incentive for business owners to employ them. The point is to make a profit off of their labor. There are benefits of stability and security with this arrangement but clear limitations. Once an employee becomes skilled enough and more profitable to the employer, they have more chips to bargain with. Raises or even working independently as a contractor become options. Unskilled or less profitable workers do not have these bargaining chips.
2. The only companies that are able to pay $15/hour for low skilled workers, as well as keep up with the slew of regulations that come with having employees, without raising prices substantially are the mega corporations with billions of $ and government employers who have access to tax revenue and $ printing presses. Small local businesses will get smaller and big corps will become stronger. We are already seeing this trend in the economy, mandating a raise in the minimum wage will make it worse.
3. $15/hour is an attractive amount for a higher class of worker. The poor, unskilled labor will find themselves out of work permanently as clean-cut collage graduates swoop in and gobble of these base level jobs.
4. A businesswoman (or man) will NEVER take a cut from her profits weather by regulation or tax increase. She will only see them as production costs and roll them into the prices for the service or product. The end results WILL BE higher prices for everything and for everyone.
I'm not saying these are fair outcomes -I believe there is clearly an economic imbalance that needs to be addressed*, but from my perspective as a small business owner, higher prices, less jobs, poorer poor seem to be the direct consequences of a universal minimum wage. On the surface it seems it would set things right, but as I've pointed out it will make these problems worse.
I do have a few ideas for solutions. If we want the opposite result: lower prices, more jobs, wealthier poor, I suggest we do the opposite. No minimum wage, less burdensome regulation, lower corporate taxes...Sounds like conservative rhetoric, so I'm going to take it to another place...
What I propose is a MAXIMUM living wage for politicians, government employees and employees of large corporations and banks who directly benefit from government benefits, contracts, subsidies or participate in lobbying for special advantages (that's most of them). These organizations should be under stringent regulations. Because of these regulations, people who seek government work and public money would be motivated by higher causes at the sacrifice of higher wages. All other businesses (like mine) dealing in the dangerous open market, unprotected from special government protections and privileges, should be free to do business without government interference and mandates.
-------------------------------------------------
*The profit motive of business fed by the public funds and legislative favors from government (economic fascism) are a disastrous duo that leads to massive market distortions and political corruption. This combo is very common in modern America and I feel is at the core of the extreme imbalance of wealth distribution.
