Seattle’s Minimum Wage

Here‘s a part (certainly not all) of the Left’s rationale for the $15/hour minimum wage just passed in Seattle. It’s from FoxNews‘ cite of David Goldstein, of whom they refer as a “Seattle blogger.”

If some jobs are lost, but we lift tens of thousands of low-wage workers out of poverty, that’s a net plus in the long run[.]

Which it would be, were this accurate. During the creative destruction that goes on all the time in a free market economy, jobs are lost and many more created—not only for low-wage workers, but for all workers. But the jobs that are lost due to government mandated minimum wage laws are exactly those of low-wage workers, who are priced out of the job market. There won’t be tens of thousands of low-wage workers lifted out of poverty by this law, these low-wage workers now will be trapped in no-wage poverty because they can no longer get jobs.

The simple fact is, the jobs are low-wage (notice that: the jobs are low-wage, not the workers in those jobs) because the value of the work—not of the worker—is so low.

And the Left adds this bit of rank cynicism:

It may very well be unfair, but unfair regulations are not illegal. The government distinguishes between different types of businesses and different types of industries all the time.

Because, you know, shut up.

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