To the Editor:
The quest to establish a federal minimum wage has been on the liberal agenda for decades. They call it a “living wage” and apply it to every job in existence.
This is faulty logic because not every job is deserving of a living wage. Some jobs are extremely simple and require little training or experience.
If you can learn everything about your job in 15 minutes, must it be a living wage job capable of sustaining you and your family for decades until retirement?
Take fast-food positions for example. The person taking your order pushes the button (or graphic) for what you request and does not have to input the cost or determine the applicable taxes.
They then input the dollars you give them, and the machine tells them your change. They don’t have to do any math, just hand you a receipt.
In fact, the job is so simple that in many businesses, electronic kiosks are now replacing the people in these positions.
Why would any conscientious business remove a human server and force their customers to communicate in an impersonal way through an inanimate machine? Because that business can see the $15 an hour ($31,200 per year) federal minimum wage regulations moving forward like a slow-motion train wreck.
In the end, the attempt to make every employment position a “living wage” job will be an economic disaster and result in fewer jobs (additional unemployment estimated at 1.4 million) and higher product/service costs to every taxpayer.
While many people work hard at their jobs and there are jobs worthy of a regulated increase to $15 per hour, a universal $15 per hour minimum wage proposal should be avoided.
Like many liberal solutions, it is a fast, broad-brush reaction to a problem that deserves a slower artist’s touch and, if enacted, will hurt our economy instead of helping it.
