*Sigh* An Upworthy headline? Really?
Ok let's take a look at this...
Oh look he hand waves away the single best argument against a high minimum wage. No convinced.
You prefer the handwaving that is put forth against a higher minimum wage? Obviously, the minimum wage can be set too high, but the current evidence indicates we're not near that point. I do think more than doubling the minimum wage in a mere three years is too far rapid, but certainly the current democratic proposal is very reasonable and I think an increase to say $12/hour over a five year period would also be very reasonable.
The issue isn't one of what a fair wage is. It's what a fair income is. I think its perfectly reasonable to make sure every American has a minimum standard of living, but the minimum wage isn't the best way to do that.
In his first argument, the presenter charts out how a $15 minimum wage is appropriate given increases in productivity and inflation. Fair enough. It's a reasonable argument and he provided evidence to support it. When the talk turns to outsourcing/automation he says something like "increased demand from higher wages will outweigh the loss in jobs" with nothing to back it up. There's something of a Laffer curve in this, with increases from a low minimum wage doing lots of good for little cost and increases to a very high minimum wage creating lots of pain for little gain.
At some point the minimum wage will create more job loss/more strain on the welfare state than it will create jobs/demand. That point is crucial, and needs to be considered, especially when the minimum wage being argued for is much higher than the current $10-$12/hr proposals. The video waved off this issue entirely, and became standard Upworthy fare because of it.
