There Shouldn't Be a Minimum Wage

Did the title of my blog give you whiplash? Heart palpitations?

I said it. And I believe it. THERE SHOULDN'T BE A MINIMUM WAGE.

Certainly not one set by the government at ANY level.

The Federal minimum wage went up 70 cents to $6.55 an hour yesterday. That would be the second of three increases that went into effect after legislation was passed last year.

Why am I so cruel to the worker making a few bucks an hour? I am not cruel. I am logical. I am a free market champion.

I believe that the only two people who should be involved in payment decisions ought to be the employee and the employer. PERIOD.

If I have a job and it pays $4.00 an hour and you really WANT it, you should be able to take it. And I should be able to hire you. Simple, isn't it?

Contrary to the scare tactics of many, this will not return us to the days of slavery and indentured servitude. Nothing of the sort.

It would simply mean that an employer would pay a worker what they were worth for the job AT HAND, not what the government decided they were worth.

For instance, let's say I own an ice cream shop. I need to hire someone to dip my cones in chocolate. Is that really $6.55 an hour worth of labor?? OF COURSE NOT. I'd say it's worth maybe $3.50 an hour TOPS.

The point is, no one is being forced to dip those cones for me. Chances are it will be enticing for the crowd the minimum wage was INTENDED FOR in the first place--entry level workers and students.

Why should some faceless bureaucrat decide what MY employees are going to earn an hour??

I hate it when I hear people moan, "I can't raise a family of 4 on the minimum wage!"

Of course you CAN'T! You aren't SUPPOSED to! No one ever intended you to raise a family of ANY number on the minimum wage!

The intention was that you would START with an entry level job that paid entry level wages and that you would better yourself and your skill and circumstance and MOVE UP.

This whole wage nonsense is artificially trying to move people up.

So why not be more realistic than $6.55 an hour (some states are actually higher than the Federal benchmark)...you still can't raise a family very well making that kind of money. So why not just get all these workers out of their misery and make the minimum wage $18 an hour? Wouldn't THAT make more sense?

Instead, politicians throw bones at potential or future supporters by giving them the illusion that they have just improved their lives.

Politicians ought to have the guts to ask what I would ask--why are you 45 years old and making less than $7.00 an hour????

Ouch. That was rough. But it was honest. Maybe brutally so. But it's the only truthful question to ask.

Next thing you know our leaders (and probably a sizable number of voters) will propose and support a MAXIMUM WAGE.

Think about it. Tiger Woods shouldn't make so much money on 18 holes or for wearing a cap with a logo on it. Those dirty, rotten CEOs shouldn't be bailing with the golden parachutes they are given. Movie stars shouldn't make millions for a few months work playing "pretend" toentertain us.

So cap the MAXIMUM someone can make! Work hard, study hard, apply yourself to your darnest--and STILL only be able to make a certain dollar amount an hour! $200,000 should be all you can ever hope to make in a year. How's THAT for killing aspirations and dreams.

Hey, it's no more un-American than the minimum wage.

You just probably never thought of it that way.