Posted on 08/14/2017 6:15:15 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer
Economics: Last year, the "Fight for $15" movement was said to have unstoppable momentum, driven by labor unions, left-wing politicians and a sympathetic press. Then reality struck. Too bad it didn't strike sooner.
"This is a trend that cannot be stopped." "The political earth has shifted." "This movement continues to build." "Even economic experts who oppose the increased rate see it gaining momentum." That's what all the "experts" were saying last year.
It was easy to make such assumptions. Protests and strikes were on the rise, hitting 340 last year. In 2015 alone, 14 cities and states approved $15 minimum wage laws. Unions were pouring tens of millions of dollars into the effort. The Democratic Party made a national $15 minimum wage part of its 2016 party platform.
That was then. Now the unstoppable movements looks like it's grinding to a halt. According to the Employment Policies Institute, which opposes minimum wage hikes, there have been just 33 strikes and protests this year.
What's more, some Democrats have started backpedaling. Baltimore's new mayor, Catherine Pugh — who had campaigned on a $15 minimum wage — vetoed a $15 wage bill passed by its city council, saying it would hurt the city's economy and its unemployed.
In August, Cleveland's city council rejected a proposal to hike the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
The Left has no answers, but it has identity politics and thus America gets this Charlottesville disaster.
I guess from Catherine Pugh’s perspective the “Fight for $15” is good politics, but bad policy.
“$15/hour”? Too yesterday. Pffft!
LOOK, a WHITE NATIONALIST!!
The government has no right to set a minimum or maximum hourly pay rate. All other questions are irrelevant.
340 to 30 isn’t accidental. Somebody turned off the money tap.
Dums need to buy votes
It seems the government(s) may indeed MANDATE the minimum wage you WILL pay, but they forgot something sorta basic...
The government CANNOT mandate that you have any employees or tell you how many to have.
"The only mystery is why so many on the left — who always claim to be guided by science — refuse to admit this scientifically validated truth."
“The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.” Told to David Horowitz in the 60’s.
Sooner or later, narratives collide with reality.
Exactly. ANY minimum wage is pure, textbook fascism.
Just another lie the Democrats tried and failed. That they destroyed the lives of the dumb bastards that believed them is not important to them because the ends always justify the means to them.
Exactly right. These movements are purchased. This was a campaign issue intended to increase turnout.
Leftism meets reality, reality wins.
Minimum wage is debtor’s prison redux: if you can’t produce enough, you’re not allowed to produce at all.
The “Fight for $15” reminds me of Olympic bobsledding. If one just gives it a nudge, gravity will get it to the bottom. If one “pushes it real good”, it hits bottom that much faster....
Oft-missed aspect:
Up to $15/hr, one gets generous entitlements/freebies.
Above $15/hr, those entitlements rapidly vanish, causing a net DROP in total effective income.
The total salary+benefits doesn’t break even again until about $36/hr.
Maybe the “push for 15” is being quietly dropped because it slams into the limits of Leftist redistributionism.
There are two kinds of “economics” - scientific so-called “micro” economics, and pseudoscientific “macro economics.” Stuff like Keynes and the Philips Curve falls into the latter category.
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