oh those hidden details...my oh my
Posted on 04/15/2014 9:18:41 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Last week, President Barack Obama visited Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor in a self-professed politically motivated press stop.
The president is pushing to raise the national minimum wage. Zingerman's co-owner, Paul Saginaw, went to Washington, D.C., in January to lobby for an increased minimum wage.
So what was reported about the president's visit to Ann Arbor?
Paragraphs of detail on the $14 Reuben sandwich the president ate.
What wasn’t reported?
That the reason for the visit — to promote increasing the minimum wage — will reportedly result in the loss of around 500,000 jobs, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Michigan Capitol Confidential reviewed nine articles by eight different news organizations covering President Obama's visit to Zingerman's Deli. Each article mentioned that the president wants to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
But it was the level of detail on President Obama's food order that truly was impressive: "Zingerman's corned beef, Switzerland Swiss cheese, Brinery sauerkraut & Russian dressing on grilled, hand-sliced Jewish rye bread" was the second paragraph of an article by WXYZ-TV.
The Detroit Free Press reported: "It was initially unclear which pickle the president ordered, but he ruled out the garlic pickle because he has to go to Chicago later today for a fundraiser."
The Detroit Free Press did mention the CBO report in the 11th graph of a separate story on President Obama's speech at the University of Michigan.
Michigan Radio included comments from Saginaw and President Obama on how raising the minimum wage would be beneficial, but it didn't mention of the CBO report. The Michigan Radio report does say "Republicans" believe the proposal "will reduce the number of jobs."
The Ann Arbor News food and dining reporter staked out the deli on the off chance she would get to meet the president. Her column also mentioned the president’s campaign to increase minimum wage.
Although the stories were color pieces describing the scene created by the arrival of the President of the United States, every one of them mentioned his agenda for raising the minimum wage, but none mentioned the CBO report of a major drawback — the loss of jobs.
Charles Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said there is nothing stopping Zingerman's owner from paying his workers above the minimum wage.
"And he doesn't need an act of Congress to do it," Owens said. "In fact, any employer — and many do — who wants to pay more than the minimum wage can do so right now. Not every business in the USA has the benefit of a captive audience of well-to-do clientele because he is located in a university city where much of the standard of living is subsidized by the government through taxpayers' dollars. It's unfortunate that the mainstream media was so excited by a visit by the president that they failed to report substantive news beyond what he ordered for lunch."
Why doesn’t Mr. Saginaw just raise the wages of all his employees to $15.00, shut up and mind his own business?
This could be a first — Zingerman’s could be the first business Obama has ever visited that didn’t shut its doors within a year.
In a free market if Saginaw paid higher wages then he’d get the best employees and presumably a more successful business because of it.
So you have a good point - he ought to pay more and just mind his own business.
Liberals are probably still making pilgrimages to Zingermans where “He” walked.
Because that won’t negatively impact other restaurants driving business to his door.
Altruism doesn’t have anything to do with it.
ahahahahaha ! The ONE was here..the ONE was here!
“were you there when he ate that Rueben Sandwich
were you there when he ate that Rueben Sandwich..
etc...etc..etc.”
“He” looked at me and I peed a little.
Considering the fact that the reubens at this place cost $14, I think he’s probably already paying his employees a wage that is greater than minimum wage.
This points out an additional problem with raising the minimum wage - inflation. We are all accustomed to looking at supply and demand of commodities. We realize that increasing the supply of a commodity without a demand increase will result in a reduction of the price of that commodity. What people don’t always realize is that money works the same way. The aggregate of all goods and services represent a demand for money; we need money to buy the things the economy produces. Therefore, if we increase the supply of money without a corresponding increase in demand, the price of money falls.
What does that mean? Normally we say that a hamburger costs $4. It is just as valid to say that one dollar costs 1/4 of a hamburger. If the price of dollars drops, then one dollar might cost 1/6 of a hamburger. In more customary terms, we would express that as 1 hamburger now costs $6. Therefore, a reduction in the price of dollars is inflation, which would likely be a result of increasing wages without any corresponding increase in GDP. Of course, this resulting inflation would render the increase in minimum wage meaningless in real terms. Thus, we would loose 500K jobs (if the CBO numbers are right) without actually helping anyone.
The good news is all those who lost jobs due to Obamacare can now get Obamacare subsidies through an exchange.
Americans love leasure-time.
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