The Minimum Wage

The Minimum Wage has been increased from $5.10 per hour to $7.25 per hour. Thank You Speaker Pelosi and the new Democrat Congress! Isn’t this terrific? By a simple vote, we now can create higher wages for about 2% of Americans who fall within that special category of workers alleviated from the burdens of managing their own personal labor contracts. Their
negotiations, for good or for ill, are now under the auspices of a new Government-directed,Wage Control. Yippee! Employers, beware!

That’s really “sticking it to the man” isn’t it? But hold on a second, who’s really “the man?” Like the commercial says, it’s US! It’s Small Business, not Big Business, that will feel the brunt of this new edict coming down from Mount Pelosi. Small Business makes up half of our economy and is responsible for a full two thirds of first-time, entry-level jobs! These are the type of jobs- usually filled by low-skill teenagers- that will suffer the most adverse impact.

In order to remain in business, and therefore ‘capable’ of providing jobs, owners and managers of Small Businesses- not the movers and shakers of the Forbes 500- must transfer these additional labor costs, imposed by the Federal Government, to other areas. Either they will cutback on production (thereby depleting supplies), lower their quality (cutting corners),
suspend further hiring ($0.00 per hour), or simply raise their prices on goods and services you and I buy! What a deal! In 2007, as in all years past, the statement is still true: “There’s no Free Lunch!”

Wouldn’t be great if this Fairy Tale was true? Why not pass a law that says everyone in Ye Kingdom of Pelosi Shall Be Paid $100 per hour, or $1,000 per hour? Why not go for broke and demand $1,000,000 per hour?! Naturally, this policy reveals its inherent foolishness upon further review!

Another area of whimsical folly for the Minimum Wage Police is in the Mickey Mouse expectation of a “one size fits all” flat rate that yields equal benefits to all in every part of the Country. Surely, one can grasp the reality that a two-dollar raise in San Francisco is not exactly the same thing as a two-dollar raise in La Follette, Tennessee!

Nevertheless, we see the Liberal, lapdog press applaud our Pelosi Benefactors as if they’ve really accomplished something!

The punch line to all this is- We don’t really need a Minimum Wage! Individuals have been freely negotiating higher rates for their low-level jobs for years, completely independent from Nanny Pelosi and her team of bureaucratic hall monitors! States have also worked independently from Commissar Pelosi by implementing their own specific ideas for
commercial/labor contracts. Vermont, New York, Hawaii and others have already had in place a Minimum Wage Law of $7 plus. Isn’t this a more equitable socialistic-intrusion into the market place than a Federal Law? But, to those still bound to Marx, I suppose Command Economies still operate best from the very top, down.

Sorry Charlie! There’s one odd thing about this “crown jewel” of the first 100 hours of the Pelosi Regime- Neo-Nancy made sure to exempt the U.S. Territory of American Samoa from the Minimum Wage Decree. Why? Del Monte and Star Kist Tuna, corporate residents of her home district in California, have operations there where they employ 75% of the Island’s workforce, at a pay scale that averages $3.60 per hour!

It turns out- some Minimum Wage Laws are more equal than others!
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