On raising the minimum wage …

In pitching an increase in the minimum wage the other night, Obama suggested that everyone who works deserves a “living wage.”

Well, raising the minimum wage alone isn’t going to do that.  If you want more money, you’re going to have to provide value to justify that to an employer.  That’s how it works.  If you have to depend on the government to give you a raise – because your employer won’t – you’re probably not all that valuable to your employer.   That’s most likely why they’re paying you the absolute minimum by law.   And minimum wage is that – the absolute legal minimum.   

Sorry, but that’s the truth. 

Now, the current minimum wage sucks.  Nobody disputes that. 

But it should suck. 

Otherwise, why should anybody try to work harder, get a better education, improve their skills, or do anything to make more than minimum wage? 

Now, some folks will say it’s cruel to have that attitude.  People deserve to make a living wage.  How can anyone raise a family or afford the nicer things in life on the current $7.25 an hour? 

They don’t.  They can’t.  Moreover, they shouldn’t.  And that’s my point. 

So what about those people who have no skills, no education, no discipline and no serious work ethic – why should they have to try to survive on minimum wage?

The answer is in the question.  They have very little to offer.  If they had those things, they’d likely be making more than minimum wage.  But if they are content with being little more than a glorified monkey in a paper hat pushing buttons at a burger joint on the night shift, minimum wage is probably too generous.  If they don’t want to face any bigger challenges than refilling the cups below the Slurpee machine on a regular basis, they’re more than fairly paid.  

Let’s be honest.  Most of the people you encounter probably making minimum wage right now – especially in the fast-food franchises, C-stores, and gas stations – are actually overpaid.  Robots, vending machines, and self-service could replace them and nobody would notice.

Except customers wouldn’t get the snotty attitude you often get now.  Like they’re doing you a big favor just by being there in person.  They are clearly annoyed that you showed up in the first place.  God help you if you interrupt their busy social life by asking them to do their job.   Or expect them to understand, much less speak, English. 

If they worked for you, would you pay them more than the legally mandated minimum wage?  You wouldn’t unless you had to because of market conditions. 

That’s actually what’s happened in a lot of areas; employers have to pay more than minimum wage just to get a warm body to stand behind a counter and push buttons with pictures on them so customers have a better chance of getting close to what they order. 

Even then, with higher pay, it’s getting harder and harder to fill those slots.  Not entirely because the pay sucks or the working conditions are bad, but simply because the people uniquely qualified for those mindless positions – particularly teens – don’t want them.  They consider those jobs demeaning. 

And definitely not cool.  

Plus, households with the unskilled and otherwise unemployable often make out better with no job at all.  So why bother to go through the effort when you can make more and get better benefits through public assistance, and enjoy a life of relative leisure.  Sure, you won’t be able to have all the things others might, but pretty much all your basic needs will be met.   

Think I’m kidding? 

Not long ago, someone calculated what a family of four with no other sources of income got in government benefits.  It came to about $44,000 a year.  At minimum wage only, after taxes, a single person would make about $11,000 a year; double that for two people working at minimum wage.

Let’s see … the equivalent of an HHI of $44,000 a year by not working, or half that for working.  Do the math.  And the public wonders why so many people prefer receiving government benefits rather than having a regular job …  

So who is really paid no more than minimum wage right now?  The answer is almost nobody, except teens, probably illegal immigrants, part-time workers and people with very limited education.  Only 9.2% of those are single adult head of household; most are either living with parents or a relative, or with a primary wage-earner who makes a lot more. 

Frankly, who is surprised at that …

Then why are many people making such a big deal out of the need to raise the minimum wage?   

It’s politics, plain and simple.  

Since most Americans remain severely math-challenged – and politicians like Obama realize that – increasing the minimum wage sounds to most like a nice idea.  A way of giving a whole lot of hard-working poor people a big raise.  And who doesn’t want to help the working poor? 

However, raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour – as Obama recently proposed – won’t really do much of anything to lift anyone out of poverty.  Or suddenly make these people more valuable to their employers.  But what it might do is eliminate new jobs, because employers already cutting employee hours to stay below the ObamaCare standards will now have another reason not to hire. 

It may sound good in a speech; however it’s always the unintended consequences that bite you in the butt.  Those happen when politicians don’t think through the logical outcomes.  Or choose to ignore the probabilities. 

That’s what this is all about.  Ostensibly helping the poor, but actually doing nothing significant to change why they’re technically in poverty in the first place.  I use the word “technically” because the Feds think poverty here is any family of four making less than $47,000 as year, which in many parts of the country wouldn’t be poverty at all.  Most of us would consider poverty to be something different; perhaps a tad more extreme. 

This will seem unduly harsh, yet in this country there’s a huge pool of unskilled, barely literate, poorly educated people with no discernible social skills. 

Here’s the kicker: They weren’t born that way; they had to make a conscious effort to avoid education, developing any worthwhile skills, and learning how to interact with others in a civilized society.  Somehow – despite the efforts of schools, massive social programs, and billions upon billions of government spending – they were able to claw their way to the bottom. 

And there they remain.  They are America’s permanent underclass. Many are damned proud of that status, and reap benefits that make many working Americans seem foolish. 

They aren’t working for minimum wage.  In fact, most aren’t working at all.  Nor do they want to.  They are already making a “living wage” by doing nothing.  Why would they take a cut to take a minimum-wage job? 

The bigger issue is does everyone “deserve” to make a living wage?  Not really.  You should get paid for what you’re worth; if that’s not enough it’s not the employer’s fault.  It’s all yours. 

You’d hope people would want to make a living wage and take the steps necessary to make a living wage.  Like learning to speak English.  Like getting at least a real high school diploma by the time they’re 18.  Like learning how to deal with others.  Like not having a lengthy arrest record before they are out of their teens.  And like having a positive work ethic and showing up for the job every day, and trying to do their best.  

Those people deserve to make a living wage.  The others?  No. 

Most of us have worked for minimum wage at one time in our lives.  Maybe it was a crappy summer job in high school or some other dead-end job between semesters in college. 

Yes the pay sucked, but was probably commensurate with the value we added at the time, if we’re really honest with ourselves. 

Still, as awful as minimum wage was it was better than zero.   And you knew you wanted to do something better than work for minimum wage the rest of your freaking days.   So you developed skills, got an education and moved on.

That’s what usually happens.  At least for most people.  You want more, you make yourself more valuable so some employer pays you more. 

Raising the minimum wage doesn’t do anything except sound good.  Hardly anyone is working for minimum wage now. 

The only thing raising it might do is reduce jobs for those at the very, very bottom.  And only for those who haven’t figured out how to work the system yet.