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1. Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15/hour is Anti-American
This is a simple and serious thread. Please pay attention. America is deliberately designed to give the states the power to govern themselves as they see fit, except where federal powers are necessary and wise.
This is a simple and serious thread. Please pay attention. America is deliberately designed to give the states the power to govern themselves as they see fit, except where federal powers are necessary and wise.
2. Federal powers to override the state powers are only necessary for matters that cannot reasonably or appropriately be handled at a state level, or where adjudication between states is required for a harmonious functioning of our republic.
3. Cost of living, cost of doing business, and labor conditions vary from state to state, indeed from locality to locality (upstate New York is not the same as Manhattan).
4. Local governments are in the best position to determine and enforce the best wage laws in their community taking into consideration everything that makes for a wholesome and efficient economic environment, striking a balance between the needs of individuals and the businesses.
5. Federal minimum wage, while completely unnecessary, is simply an 'after the fact' recognition of the MINIMUM of prevailing wages across the nation as a guidance to businesses everywhere across the nation. It is not a lever for social engineering.
6. The minimum wage in 29 states is right now higher than the federal minimum wage, as it should be, because the federal minimum wage is the MINIMUM. Every state, indeed every locality, is free to set its own minimum wage at any level higher than the federal MINIMUM, and many do.
7. No state, no community, no individual needs to rend garments over raising the federal minimum wage. You just have to work within your own community to raise it to whatever level your fellow Americans in your own neighborhood, county, or state are willing to agree to.
8. Many localities and states are doing just that. Hence the cornucopia of all kinds of local minimum wages (higher than the federal MINIMUM) across the land, as it should be. Some experiments succeed, some fail.
9. Setting the local minimum wage at $15/hour has mostly failed everywhere, including in the largest and most expensive cities in the U.S. as it has led to unacceptable unemployment. Regardless of the govt mandates, the real minimum wage on the street is always the same -- zero!
10. Imagine that. A minimum wage that causes unemployment in even the most expensive labor markets. Democrats want to take that minimum wage and make it a federal MINIMUM for the whole nation. It is guaranteed to cause widespread unemployment.
11. Imposing on the states a burden that causes misery and that is wholly unnecessary, because local solutions are not only permitted but encouraged by our very Constitution. It is against the spirit of our nation, and hence anti-American.
12. To be productive and useful, federal MINIMUM wage must catalog the minimum of the prevailing wages across the nation, after sanitizing it for any outliers. It should prevent any draconian and cruel labor practices, not attempt to usher in a fantastical Utopia.
13. BTW, roughly 0.5% of Americans are paid minimum wage, half of them are younger than 25 years old, and half of younger workers paid minimum wage are actually teenagers. People aren't renting apartments on minimum wage in America. Stop with the unhinged demagoguery.
The End
The End
