5 Right-Wing Myths About Raising the Minimum Wage, Debunked

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-right-wing-myths-about-raising-minimum-wage-debunked



1. Myth: Only teenagers make the minimum wage.

***SNIP

There may once have been a time when most people who earned the minimum were teenagers in starter jobs. But times and the structure of our economy have changed for the worse. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “87.9 percent of those affected nationally by increasing the federal minimum wage to $9.80 are 20 years of age and older. The share of those affected who are 20 or older varies by state, from a low of 77.1 percent in Massachusetts to a high of 92.4 percent in Florida (and 93.9 percent in the District of Columbia).” Also, “more than a third (35.8 percent) are married, and over a quarter (28.0 percent) are parents.”

2. Myth: A minimum wage is “government interference” that just distorts the market. If there are lots of people looking for work, then wages should fall.

The problem with this myth is that we live in a consumer economy and a consumer economy does better when more people and businesses have more money to spend. In other words, the economy rises and falls based on how much demand there is for the goods and service that our companies provide.


3. Myth: Raising the minimum wage costs jobs.

This is one place where conservative ideology is clearly refuted by looking at what actually happens. When you have states next to each other, and one raises the minimum wage while the other does not, you can compare the results.



4. Myth: Raising the minimum wage hurts blacks, Latinos, fill in the blank.

Many conservatives play a propaganda trick by claiming that raising the minimum wage hurts the very people liberals want to help. Fox News' Art Laffer called the minimum wage the " Black Teenage Unemployment Act." At far-right Townhall, Walter E. Williams claimed that “increases in the minimum wage at both the state and federal level are partially to blame for the crisis in employment for minority young adults.”

[daleanime]

1. K&R....

[pampango]

2. Love it that studies dispel right-wing myths on such a regular basis.

The widespread benefits of raising the minimum wage is a classic example.

Thanks for posting this, xchrom.

[HughBeaumont]

3. K & R.

A consumption economy is the hand that 33 years of Water-sports Economics, upward redistribution of wealth and cheap labor gluttony has dealt us.

Seems to me taking money OUT of the people who have to spend every dime of it would be counter-productive.

Then again, no one ever accused this bunch of acting in the best interests of the least of us.

[Kingofalldems]

4. Yeah but Ayn Rand said......

[jeff47]

5. ....right before she abandoned her ideology and took Social Security....