Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 04/28/2026 3:05:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The national wage floor is so low that it might as well not exist.
Do you want to know the good news about the minimum wage? In most parts of the country, it is practically irrelevant.
The last federal minimum wage increase went into effect on July 24, 2009, raising it from $6.55 an hour to $7.25. We have experienced nearly 50 percent inflation since then, yet the minimum wage has stayed the same. Even in 2009, only 4.9 percent of workers were actually paid $7.25 an hour, and that number has dropped to 1.1 percent today. This is good news: It means that the minimum wage is so low relative to the median wage that it is causing few economic distortions.
Many states have their own minimum wage laws, and some of those are high—Washington, D.C., is at $17.90 an hour, Connecticut is at $16.94, and California is at $16.50. Then there are roughly 20 states with no minimum wage law at all, many of which are experiencing strong economic growth and in-migration. This is unsurprising because low minimum wages reflect a broader preference for economic freedom. By contrast, in D.C., Connecticut, California, and other states, high minimum wage increases have predictably decreased employment and forced firms to relocate, especially in the fast food industry.
It makes one wonder about the wisdom of a national minimum wage in the first place. The U.S. economy is not one-size-fits-all and the cost of living varies greatly. A $7.25 might be penurious in California but generous in Mississippi.
The answer is to repeal all the minimum wage laws and get the government out of the business of setting price caps and floors on commodities, even labor. With a floor on prices above equilibrium, supply will exceed demand, producing a surplus of labor willing to work at that price—otherwise known as unemployment. Given three employees, if one had the choice of paying them each $10 or two of them $15 and having the third one on welfare, why wouldn't you choose the former?
The jobs that pay the minimum wage are not intended to be careers. They're intended to be stepping stones for young, unskilled workers to graduate to higher-paying jobs later in life. I personally have one employee who told me that his first job paid the minimum wage, stacking inner tubes at a water slide park. Five years later, he is making multiples of that. But by taking that job, he acquired skills—not in stacking inner tubes, per se, but in putting on a uniform, showing up on time, working in an organization, and having a cheerful, positive attitude. These are skills that he will carry with him through life.
By raising the minimum wage, we are depriving young people of these opportunities. No teenager in Connecticut will get an entry-level job for $16.94 an hour, bagging groceries or stacking inner tubes. Their first job will most likely come at 22, when they graduate from college and the stakes are higher, never having acquired those basic habits of showing up on time and conducting themselves professionally. These are jobs that kids take while they're going through college to get some spending money and to grow up a little.
A minimum wage is a price floor, and it's bad for the same reason that price caps are bad. If we capped the price of corn at a level far below the market-clearing price, massive shortages would develop overnight. The same logic applies to labor. If we could legislate prosperity, why not make the minimum wage $100 an hour? $10,000 an hour? The unemployment rate would skyrocket. The federal minimum wage has not moved in nearly two decades, and for now, that is something close to a blessing. We should not be in a hurry to change it.
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Why pay “some burger” the same rate of pay as microwave technician in a defense plant?
The true minimum wage is Zero.
Not negative?
Do you think that really happens?
That was their first real life lesson in why they haven't voted Dim.
If the best you can do is a job where someone is forced to pay you the $7.25 an hour you’re not worth … you are truly a loser.
Federal minimum wage is utterly unconstitutional and disastrous.
I started working at 13 for $2.00 and hour and was ecstatic when it went to $2.10 a year later. Worked my way up from gas pumper to tires, then oil changes and light mechanical repairs. Was working more than 40 hours a week while attending high school. I knew that that $2 starting wage was a start and it was up to me to increase it by becoming more valuable to my employer.
The Federal Minimum Wage Is Irrelevant. Good.
Regardless that so-called federal minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living, the real value for career lawmakers trying to get reelected by promising higher federal minimum wage is this imo.
Consider that even though the states have never expressly constitutional given the feds the specific power to regulate INTRAstate wages, that doesn't stop crook career federal lawmakers from making the constitutionally indefensible campaign promise to raise bogus national minimum wage to increase their chances of being reelected with the help of post-17th Amendment ratification voters who don't understand the fed's constitutionally limited powers.
From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added]. —United States v. Butler, 1936.
Consider that raising unconstitutional, politically correct federal minimum wage is another way of saying that lawmakers are going to increase your repealable (hint), 16th Amendment-based federal payroll taxes.
We either do something about wage deflation or go full commie. Wasn't Mondami enough warning?
Min wage has passed three SCOTUS tests.
Copilot
Federal Minimum Wage Adjusted to Keep Up with Social Security Since 2009
If the federal minimum wage had been increased at the same rate as Social Security (SS) since 2009, it would be about $10.50 per hour in 2024 dollars.
States can do min wage although I think it a very bad idea.
Regardless of SCOTUS, the Constitution delegates no power to the feds that I know of to regulate wages.
Supreme Court and Minimum Wage Law
The U.S. Supreme Court has played a pivotal role in shaping minimum wage law, shifting from strict limits on wage regulation to recognizing states’ and Congress’ authority to set wage floors.
Early resistance: Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923)
The Court struck down a District of Columbia law setting a minimum wage for women, ruling it violated the “liberty of contract” under the Due Process Clause. This decision effectively blocked state minimum wage laws for over a decade legalclarity.org.
The turning point: West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937)
In West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, the Court upheld a Washington State law setting a $14.50/week minimum wage for women. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, joined by Brandeis, Stone, Roberts, and Cardozo, overruled Adkins and held that states could regulate wages to protect workers’ health, safety, and ability to support themselves. The decision marked the end of the “Lochner era,” when courts often invalidated labor regulations Wikipedia+1.
Federal action: Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
Congress passed the FLSA, setting a federal minimum wage and regulating maximum hours and child labor. The Act used the Commerce Clause to justify federal standards, even for intrastate production, if goods touched interstate commerce LII / Legal Information Institute+1.
United States v. Darby (1941)
The Court upheld the FLSA, ruling that Congress could regulate employment conditions in intrastate manufacturing if the goods produced were sold outside state lines. This expanded federal power under the Commerce Clause and allowed the FLSA to apply nationwide LII / Legal Information Institute.
Later developments
Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times, most recently to $7.25/hour in 2009, with no increase since History+1. States and localities have set higher rates for covered workers, creating a patchwork of wage floors.
Key takeaway
The Supreme Court’s shift from Adkins to West Coast Hotel and Darby reflected changing economic conditions and a willingness to limit the “freedom of contract” doctrine. These rulings enabled both state and federal minimum wage laws, which remain central to U.S. labor policy today.
The last time that I worked for minimum wage it was $2.35 an hour.
The funny thing is, if that was in the mid 70s, then, adjusting for inflation, your minimum wage would have been about $15/hr in 2026 terms.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.