So, do unions hate the military, or just freedom?

[SemperFiUSMC]

Minimum wage are an unnatural and unwelcome intrusion into the private employer / employee relationship. I would submit that the minimum wage also encourages illegal immigration and under-the-table deals.

As dross said, if it's only worth $2 to have work done, and a business to pay someone $7.50, they'll either do it themselves or work a deal with someone outside the protection and scope of labor law.

Minimum wage laws also promote automation in favor of employment. When is the last time you saw someone at McDonalds pour a pop into a cup? Now the register tells the soda dispenser what size and type of drink you want. The drink is poured automatically. In California there McDonalds that have only one or two employees. Orders are taken by the customer picking items on a screen. The food is automatically prepared. The employees are there only to refill stock and help people too stupid to use the automated order system.

So who does minimum wage help?

 

[dross]

So who does minimum wage help?

It helps unions. Many union contracts index to the minimum wage, so when the minimum wage goes up, so does their pay.

The minimum wage is either meaningless, or harmful, depending on the existing economic conditions. If the real world market clearing price for unskilled labor is higher than the minimum wage, it's meaningless. We saw this in the 90s here in Colorado, when you could offer jobs for minimum wage - but no one would take them. The minimum wage set by the market was HIGHER than the government minimum wage.

If the market clearing price for labor is lower than the minimum wage, it hurts the people with the least skills in the job market, and it hurts employers who can't afford to buy the labor they need. If your skills are worth less than minimum wage, you won't find work.

So, it's meaningless at best, harmful at worst. Which actually puts it in the top half of government programs.