Jobless not hopeless, Ask for my resume – Chris Stewart (Photo credit: Steve Rhodes)
So often, it seems, our politicians ignore the true consequences of their machinations. Perhaps, they have the best intentions at heart, we’ll never know for sure. However, they seem to never think about the repercussions of their actions. Leaving us to deal with the unintended consequences. The minimum wage is a good example. I don’t know how anyone can survive on a minimum wage job. Especially one without medical benefits. On the other hand when I was growing up, my father often worked at three jobs in order to make ends meet. It seems like forcing employers, to at least pay a reasonable minimum living wage instead of the market wage would be only fair. Right?
However, then come the unintended consequences. Teenagers and young people trying to start out with their first job, find that not much is available. There are no legal really low paying “starter” jobs where they can learn the ropes and begin to understand what it takes to earn a living. Something that isn’t taught in our educational system. Also, some employers may feel the squeeze of this requirement for paying unskilled labor at over-market rates, forcing them to look for undocumented workers that they can pay under the table. Perhaps, creating a whole dark economy that is “off the books”, with no benefits, and no safety net and little potential for escape. Employers that don’t cheat may find that they have to cut hours or cut employees. If they don’t they may go out of business due to competition and then everyone loses.
And have you ever wondered how a single federal minimum wage makes any sense when actually trying to provide a living wage? Does it cost the same to live in a small town in Tennessee as it does in San Francisco bay area? Does it cost the same to live for a single young adult living in their parent’s basement as it does a single mother with four children? Centralized economic control seems to be a goal for every progressive statist, but has it every worked? Could it even work in the most ideal, far-out impossible world that you could ever imagine? I don’t think so.
I could be wrong, but look at the rate of unemployment for teenagers and young adults in America today. They are being hurt the most and we will all pay the long term consequences for not giving this generation a humble start at earning a living. Instead many will end up living with their parents who are also forced to stay in the workforce longer and delay retirement. Why don’t our politicians, at least, make an exception to minimum wage for young workers? They are not really trying to make a living, just trying to get a start in life.
Unfortunately, our politicians don’t really care about real people and reality. They care about their ideology and feeling good and winning the next election. When confronted once, with the fact that raising taxes on the rich, for example, could lead to lower revenues and defeat the whole purpose, one famous politician responded that it didn’t matter. It was the right thing to do because it was “fair”. God help us from politicians that do the right thing regardless of the facts.
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