Free Republic

Wages: It's tax season, which means that union groups are once again out in force claiming that because Wal-Mart (WMT) doesn't pay its workers enough, taxpayers are forced to make up the difference. This is, to put it politely, pure poppycock. The latest to make this claim is Lonnie Sheppard of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, who says that "every American taxpayer is paying a tax they never heard of: the Wal-Mart Tax." "What is the Wal-Mart Tax?" Sheppard asks. Wal-Mart pays so little that "thousands of Wal-Mart employees are forced to rely on public assistance programs like...

It's a common enough complaint that we who focus upon the costs of the minimum wage appear to be fixated on the restaurant industry. You know the idea, a rise in the minimum wage will make millions better off so why this concern about a few waiters and burger flippers? The answer being that whatever the effects of a rise in the minimum wage are going to be it's the restaurant industry where we're going to see them first. Simply because that's where the minimum wage binds. Roughly, even if not accurately, 50% of people in restaurants get the minimum...

Across the Western world, governments and citizens are clubbing together to work for either a minimum wage to be put in place or to increase the minimum wage to a more “living wage”. But they are ignoring the reality. In almost every place where a minimum wage is enacted, it soon becomes the maximum wage for low-skilled professions. Imposing such a wage tells employers that “this is the most you have to pay to be acceptable”. In the US, marchers are out demanding $15 per hour, and in the UK, opposition government is calling for A £1 increase. It seems...

It seemed like a done deal that Baltimore would make it illegal to work for or offer a job for less than $15 per hour. The city's new mayor, Catherine Pugh, had campaigned as a supporter of raising the minimum wage, and the city council passed the measure to require wages in the city 50 percent higher than those in the rest of Maryland. But on March 31, in what many activists are denouncing as a betrayal, Pugh vetoed the measure. "I want people to earn better wages," Pugh told the Wall Street Journal, which recently took an interesting local...

Evidence has emerged of an economic dark side to San Diego’s decision last year to vault over the state minimum wage — it may have already destroyed thousands of jobs for low-wage workers even as higher pay helps tens of thousands of others. Consider the restaurant industry, for example, which economists study because it relies on low-wage workers. Amid an abrupt slowdown in growth, nearly 4,000 food-service jobs may have been cut or not created throughout San Diego County from the beginning of 2016 through February of this year. “This was at a time when both overall economies performed similarly...

Tipping is racist. That's the argument being forwarded by some liberal activists and politicians as a way of stigmatizing laws that exempt certain professions, mainly restaurant workers, from the federal minimum wage. However, there is little historical evidence for the argument. "I don't think tipping was particularly racial … It was more a matter of customers showing off their wealth," said Gerald Friedman, professor of economics and history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Nevertheless, activists pushing for a higher minimum wage have pushed the argument now that their movement has gained ground. Minimum wage fans have argued that...

Baltimore's Democratic Mayor Catherine Pugh has vetoed a bill that would have raised the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour. The unprecedented veto of a "Fight for 15" wage bill by a Democrat points to the growing evidence from other cities that the economic damage caused by a $15 an hour minimum isn't worth the job losses and economic slowdown that results from the increase. Daily Caller: The council meets April 3 and could overturn the Mayor’s veto with support from 12 of the 15 members. It is unlikely that the council will veto the Mayor’s decision, with the Baltimore Sun reporting that the...

Low wage workers are fighting for Texas to increase its minimum wage, which is currently at $7.25 an hour. However, lawmakers have filed eight bills this session to try to change that, including increasing it to $10, or even $15 an hour. In particular, a group called "Fight for 15" testified before a House panel. The group argued that receiving less than that wage keeps people in poverty..."The economic reality of raising the minimum wage, just a blanket mandate on everyone, unfortunately, it's just not a reality,"

Advocates for the disabled, elderly and chronically ill in New York are concerned the state’s move to a $15 minimum wage could deepen a shortage of home health aides. More than 180,000 Medicaid patients in New York are authorized to receive long-term, in-home care, the most in the state’s history. But there are increasingly too few aides to go around, especially in the state’s remote, rural areas. …

The fast-food chain Wendy's plans to install self-order kiosks at 1,000 restaurants across the country in order to cut rising labor costs amid minimum wage hikes in several states. Wendy's franchises in the United States will have the kiosks installed by the end of the year, the Columbus Dispatch reported. They will replace some employees to save money but are also more popular with younger customers. The average restaurant will receive three kiosks at a cost of $15,000. Wendy's planned last year to install the kiosks at thousands of locations to combat higher labor costs resulting from minimum wage hikes...

Voices of protest rose high once again when dusk fell Monday in downtown Minneapolis. The group of 150 to 200 people snarled rush-hour traffic in some spots but stayed peaceful — both protesters and police, who were leading and following the group. Several causes were represented: rallying for a $15 minimum wage, denouncing President Donald Trump and his immigration policies, supporting Black Lives Matter and denouncing law enforcement actions at the pipeline protests in North Dakota. At the group's final stop outside Hennepin County jail, demonstrators hurled insults at the Sheriff's Department and the city of Minneapolis. Protesters said they...

After decades as the crossroads of prairie populists and checkbook conservatives, Iowa has suddenly become solidly Republican like many of its Midwestern neighbors. It was one of four states — along with Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire — that flipped to complete GOP control in the November election, but Iowa’s rush of new legislation has been the most intense. In an all-night session last week, Iowa lawmakers approved a bill similar to one enacted in Wisconsin six years ago that strips most public sector unions of long-held collective bargaining rights, including health insurance. […] Among other items, Republicans also are...

For Americans hitting the drive-thru at their local McDonald’s, a $15-an-hour minimum wage could hit them in their wallets. According to a January report released by James Sherk, a former research fellow in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, fast-food prices would rise by 38 percent under a $15-an-hour minimum wage and cause a 36 percent drop in employment. Sherk’s research comes after several cities and states across the country voted to raise their minimum wages, with increases typically phased in over the next five years. Additionally, several Democrats have advocated a $15-an-hour minimum wage at the federal level, as...

JoAnn Wise thinks she wasn’t treated well. In an op-ed published Tuesday by The Washington Post, Wise writes, “I already know what Trump/Puzder economics look like because I’m living it every day. Despite giving everything I had to [labor secretary pick Andy] Puzder’s company for 21 years, I left without a penny of savings, with no health care and no pension.” Wise worked for 21 years at Hardee’s, which is one of the chains Puzder leads as head of CKE. “In 1984, I was hired as a cashier at Hardee’s in Columbia, S.C., making $4.25 an hour. By 2005, 21...

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a study claiming to have directly disproved any link between minimum wage and job loss. Unfortunately, it has received media attention, including a piece or two by Nick Hanauer, “America’s worst minimum wage pundit.” Fortunately, at least some of the coverage is negative – as it should be. The NELP study is not serious, and it’s also flat wrong. Numerous people have pointed out the primary issue: NELP asked the wrong question. Asking the wrong question is a common but serious error, and can invalidate your result. Here’s a revealing sentence from the...

Massachusetts is in the midst of debating the Fight for 15, with proposals on the table to raise the minimum wage that high at least for a few industries including big box stores and fast food outlets. That would have a serious impact on businesses such as McDonald’s, which hires a lot of younger workers looking for their first entries on their resumes, particularly if they don’t have a secondary school education. While we’re on the subject, if you happen to be in the Boston area be sure to stop by one McDonald’s where you can meet their new...

Cafe X TechnologiesCafe X claims to be the first robot-powered café in the US. The kiosk takes customers' orders from a number of tablets stationed nearby, and serves coffes, lattés, and cappuccinos made with beans from local roasters. It opens January 30 in the city's Metreon shopping center. The robot, which is encased in a round, plexiglass shell, isn't all that intelligent. Hu says you can find six-axis, industrial robots like his on all sorts of assembly lines. It performs a pre-defined set of motions, such as moving a cup from under the milk dispenser to the syrup dispenser, or...

Bay area restaurant industry employment and even general retail employment have fallen, and are possibly headed towards a steep decline. One has to wonder how obvious things will have to get before the press takes the negative effects of the area's mandated sky-high minimums seriously. ... Upward of 60 restaurants around the Bay Area have closed since the start of September alone, with many citing difficulties like the cost of finding and keeping good employees, rising rents, new requirements for providing health care and sick leave, and doing it all while competing with the slew of new dining options. ......

A Boston McDonald’s is set to launch a machine that dispenses the fast-food chain’s trademark sandwich, the Big Mac. The automated cheeseburger machine will offer three different sizes: traditional, the Mac Jr. and the Grand Mac, according to Metro Boston. The sandwiches are expected to be free of charge and available for a short time period. People in the area can obtain the stacked sandwich without conversing with any humans, which seems to be part of a trend for casual restaurants.

California’s projected budget deficit is rising. “Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration miscalculated costs for the state Medi-Cal program by $1.9 billion last year, an oversight that contributed to Brown’s projection of a deficit in the upcoming budget, officials acknowledged this week,” the Associated Press reported today. California’s projected deficits could have been avoided by curtailing wasteful spending. As the Reason Foundation notes, California spends more money to get worse roads than most states. […] California’s legislative analyst projected last year that the recent increase in the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour will cost taxpayers $3.6 billion more a year...