A nationwide $15 dollar minimum wage is harmful and dumb. We should advocate wage subsidies and UBI.

[Orrex]

54. Every pro-worker initiative in the past 150 years has been predicted to kill the company

"We can't end slavery, because paying the workers will destroy the company."

"We can't end child labor, because ending child labor will destroy the company."

"We can't require workplace safety, because requiring it will destroy the company."

"We can't allow a 40-hour work week, because a 40-hour work week will destroy the company."

"We can't allow paid time-off, because paid time-off will destroy the company."

"We can't allow paid maternity leave, because that will destroy the company."

"We can't offer pensions, because offering pensions will destroy the company."

"We can't have a minimum wage, because a minimum wage will destroy the company."

"We can't provide healthcare, because the cost of providing healthcare will destroy the company."

"We can't raise the minimum wage, because raising the minimum wage will destroy the company."

Notice a pattern? The excuse is always the same, and it's always bullshit. In every single case.

Employers complain that they can't afford to pay non-starvation wages. Well too fucking bad for them. If they can't pay a livable wage, then they don't deserve to have a business. They sure as fuck don't deserve to have tax dollars subsidizing their payroll in the form of public assistance. If they can't pay a livable wage, then they aren't employing people; they're exploiting them. That's true for Walmart, and it's true for the mom-and-pop diner at the end of the street.

When employers decide that their electric bill is too high, do they simply refuse to pay it? Or pay only what they think they should pay? How does that work for them?


And let's not forget: "We can't possibly limit the endlessly swelling CEO compensation, because that will destroy the company."