CultureCitizen
Silver Member
- Jun 1, 2013
- 1,932
- 140
- 95
This absolute IDIOCY to keep pushing it up so that we can "solve poverty" or whatever, is ridiculous... 82 years we've chased our tails with this and have the same exact problem. It only serves to drive up prices through inflation and eliminate jobs.
I have made the comparision to Mexico, because it is a place with a minimum wage which in general is far below the market equilibrium point. 50% of the population is poor , crime is rampant as well as informal economy , probably a third or so of the working class are self employed .
That settled , look at the situation of the USA before a minimum wage existed : Half of the population lived in poverty by today standards in 1920, wealth and income disparity were huge. The US population was not in better shape than any country from SA, to put it bluntly.
The FACT that poverty has been reduced from 50% to 15% is a success.
Now to nail my point down: from a macroeconomic perspective every increase in productivity has to be coupled with an net increase in exports OR an increase in the internal market size. Else the result will be an increase in private debt, asset bubbles ( land, housing , stocks) and an eventual market crash.
I can agree that a one size fits all policy is not appropiate , but going as far as eliminating minimum wage when productivity is increasing is a nonesense from a macro perspective.
Eliminating MW might be a good thing in a country with low immigration , where labour costs are the main production factor. Not in a fully industrialized country with growing productivity.
I have made the comparision to Mexico, because it is a place with a minimum wage which in general is far below the market equilibrium point. 50% of the population is poor , crime is rampant as well as informal economy , probably a third or so of the working class are self employed .
That settled , look at the situation of the USA before a minimum wage existed : Half of the population lived in poverty by today standards in 1920, wealth and income disparity were huge. The US population was not in better shape than any country from SA, to put it bluntly.
The FACT that poverty has been reduced from 50% to 15% is a success.
Now to nail my point down: from a macroeconomic perspective every increase in productivity has to be coupled with an net increase in exports OR an increase in the internal market size. Else the result will be an increase in private debt, asset bubbles ( land, housing , stocks) and an eventual market crash.
I can agree that a one size fits all policy is not appropiate , but going as far as eliminating minimum wage when productivity is increasing is a nonesense from a macro perspective.
Eliminating MW might be a good thing in a country with low immigration , where labour costs are the main production factor. Not in a fully industrialized country with growing productivity.