Yet again, New York Democrats are raising that state’s minimum wage, this time an additional 17% and it’s all for the good.
Ignorant store owners complaining that increasing the wage they must pay teenagers for entry-level jobs will cause them to hire fewer of them just don’t understand what a boon the Democrats are bestowing upon them, according to those Dems:
Kerri Biche, a spokeswoman for [State Assembly Speaker] Silver, says the businesspeople are overlooking the good points of raising the minimum wage.
“These people getting the higher wage will be spending more money in their communities. They will be able to buy more from these businesses,” Biche says.
Well of course they will, and it’s cruel and just plain stupid to deny it. So why I ask, and have asked every year the minimum wage is raised, why not raise the minimum to a level that will make these teenagers truly rich? If 17% will actually benefit, not harm store owners and pay for itself, why not 1,700%? Raising that paltry $9 an hour to $15,300 will have these kids swarming to Mercedes dealers, shopping at Whole Foods and vacationing in St. Moritz and won’t that benefit everyone? Only cruelty and indifference to the poor can explain the Democrats’ heartless half-step towards eradicating poverty.
Just as an aside, NPR reports that the teenage unemployment rate is 25% (49% in D.C.) and keeps rising, despite a steady increase in the minimum wage. No explanation is given for this paradox that, again according to NPR, is creating a “lost generation”.