“Can I ask why no one is discussing the economics of creating 12 million NEW minimum wage earners?”
Because that number will be about 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 over the next 5 years.
The reason? Because big-business Republicans want a cheap labor force to hold down wages. Democrats want a huge underclass with which they can wage class-warfare.
Neither will admit it.
I’ve seen it discusses in some threads here.
The point is, with the new mnimium wage raise ($7.25/hr in 2010), these projected 40M unskilled workers WON’T be a “cheap labor force”.