George Will's Minimum Wage

"[T]he minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices. Washington, which has its hands full delivering the mail and defending the shores, should let the market do well what Washington does poorly."

This has got to be the most idiotic statement I've ever heard uttered in recent memory, including anything that the Chimp-man has said... well, maybe not everything.

George Will of the Washington Post actually wrote an article that appeared on January 4th opposing a minimum wage increase. Well, actually opposing a minimum wage at all. Then he goes through all this convoluted math and inane percentages regarding who makes what amount of money, trying to confuse the reader into thinking he might actually have a point. I had to read it twice through to try and figure out if I was missing something.


Here are a couple of gems:

"The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 1997, so 29 states with 70 percent of the nation's workforce have set minimum wages between $6.15 and $7.93 an hour."

Okay, where does that leave the other 21 states and 30% of the "workforce"?

"The problem is that demand for almost everything is elastic: When the price of something goes up, demand for it goes down."

Really, George? I suppose gasoline and home heating oil is not in demand then.


You'll have to read the article for yourself to get even a hint of the twisted logic this guy is trying to talk you into.

But let's just use simple math, shall we? I live in New York, where the minimum wage is still $5.15 per hour. It's been like that since 1997. So, a worker's yearly salary, working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks at minimum wage, is $10,712. That's before taxes. You try living on $206 a week before taxes , George.

Of course, Will is no slouch when it comes to figures and data, including a statement that "the average and median household incomes are $63,344 and $46,326, respectively."
I'm sorry to reveal this to you Mr. Will, but even $63K (about $1,200 per week before taxes) doesn't really go far for a family of four, where mom and dad have to work to make ends meet, adding day care costs to their bills. At least not in New York City.

But to say that the labor market should decide what to pay its employees is just a bizarre notion. How many jobs has the US already lost overseas to cheaper labor and unregulated working conditions?

I guess Will is longing for the good ol' days of child labor and sweatshops.