Let's pay 16 year olds $31.2k to sweep floors!!!!

[quaker bill]

228. absolutely

Your argument against an increase in the MW is macroeconomic nonsense. You broadly assume that all other things are fixed and that the only thing that increases is the wages of a hypothetical 16 year old in BFE.

In short, everyone under the new minimum gets a raise and to prevent wage scale compression, those currently well above the minimum not only get the raise to $15 but more as businesses do not want the new hires making the same as experienced staff. Further people earning above $15 but still near $15 get raises too, because you do not want the less experienced making more than the more senior staff.

What this in fact does is change the income distribution of the entire workforce. There is suddenly much more disposable income in the hands of people who will in fact spend it, this circles back and makes the business more profitable and the wages more affordable.

This experiment has been run (under Bill Clinton) and while all the doom and gloom scenarios were predicted. (to include the one you mention) the observed result was as I describe it. Economists have since gone back to the history books on previous increases, and find the same result every time. Employment increases, the economy grows, and income is redistributed to the working poor.

Raising the minimum is the right idea and about 10 or 15 years overdue.