Let's say M Wage hike raises 9 Million from poverty and kills 500K jobs...
Let us accept, as a hypothetical for purposes of discussion, the CBO estimates that raising the minimum wage would benefit 16 million people, raise 9 million people out of poverty and decrease the number of jobs by 0.5 million. (500 thousand) I think the stimulative effect would be greater and hold job loss to lower than CBO estimates, but let's accept it for discussion.
Okay. What's the fucking problem?
To me, the purpose of a job is not to grant burger-flipping dignity to some heathen so that she may be better integrated in the society of her betters.
The utility of a job is to elevate a human being out of poverty, so as a policy benefit lifting 9 million people out of poverty means something.
One could even say that a job that does not stop one from being a pauper isn't much of a job.
So who the fuck cares how MANY jobs there are in the abstract? This nation is not a god damned nature preserve for jobs, lest they become extinct in the wild. It is a nation for PEOPLE and working a job is a means to the end of having some useful level of money.
And... hold onto something because this is radical stuff... a raise for 16 million and raising 9 million from poverty is worth more than the numerical existence of 0.5 million jobs. Really. (Oh noes! We raised 9 million from poverty but lowered 0.5 million to poverty, except those 0.5 million were already in fucking poverty because the 0.5 millions jobs lost are... All. Minimum. Wage. Jobs.
And this thought experiment can be run backward, in case anyone misses the point....
Simply have the CBO estimate what reduction of the federal minimum wage would result in 0.5 million more jobs.
There is such a number. It exists. Some level of cut in the minimum wage would create 0.5 million more jobs... jobs that pay below what we think of as minimum wage, of course, but jobs.
Is there any sane person who thinks that we should cut the minimum wage in order to create those jobs?
I rest my fucking case.
(Reflections on listening to Rick Perry on TV, which is always a mistake.)
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