Logical extreme argument: Well, then, why not raise it to $100 an hour? Or $1,000? If higher wages are always better, why stop at $10.10? The idea here is to demonstrate that, at some point, your mandates will cause employers to exceed what they can actually afford. This argument is ineffective because all you have to do is point out that your proposal stops well short of the extreme being suggested, thus proving that you do recognize the limits of what employers can afford and arguing that you think the amount youre proposing is affordable. Because conservatives always argue against the minimum wage with one or more of these three ineffective arguments, they always lose the political battle over the issue. Im not saying any of the three arguments are incorrect. I dont think they are. Im saying theyre not effective at persuading working people that a higher minimum wage is really not in their best interests. So is there any way to convince them of this? I think there is, and making it work means convincing working people that the broader free-market philosophy is really the workers friend. In order to do that, you have give the worker a little more respect in terms of his abililty to understand basic economic concepts. I would make the following two arguments: 1. Its not true that companies want to pay you the lowest wage they can get away with. Companies want stability in their workforces and they know they wont have that if they pay too little. Companies want to pay you the wage that reflects the value they receive from you, so the best way for you to earn more is to put yourself in a position to provide more value, such that they see the money they pay you as a good investment that earns them a good return. 2. In order to keep your job, you have to be able to produce enough that your employer believes your wage is justified. Lets say your employer needs to get $20 per hour worth of productivity out of you to justify a wage of $10.10 an hour. But your experience, your skills and the nature of your assignment only allow you to generate $15 an hour worth of productivity. Now your employer does not see you as a good investment. Over time, they might be willing to work with you so you can produce more, but youre not at that point right now and yet the government is forcing them to pay you more than your work can justify. Youre better off negotiating a wage that both sides are comfortable with, while finding out how you can get on a path to greater productivity so your wage can rise naturally on its own. By butting in and forcing your employer to pay you more than it would prefer, the government may be making it impossible for you to justify your continued employment. I understand that these two arguments do not fit in campaign ads or sound bites. But they are true and they make the case that workers are actually better off under conservative policies that take hands off wages and let companies and workers work these things out for themselves. If Republicans think its too hard to make this case, fine, let them continue letting Democrats get away with economic proposals that sound good and give them political victories even as they screw both workers and companies. Dans series of Christian spiritual thrillers - Powers and Principalities, Pharmakeia and Dark Matter - make great reading if you like Christian fiction, or youd like to give it a try for the first time! You can buy the whole series, or get them one at a time, here in either print or e-book form. Follow all of Dans work by liking his page on Facebook.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 14:43:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015