What do you think of this argument against raising the minimum wage?

[AggregateDemand]

Yes, it's valid. It's an accurate reflection of the problem as well.

When the skilled labor force feels the unskilled labor force crowding out their wages, they tend to leave. In a bid to protect skilled labor, the company jettisons unskilled min wage workers.

The market doesn't follow this step by step process because people are paid to avoid the instability of regulation. They fire the unskilled laborers before the laws take effect. Jobs are lost upfront and countless potential jobs are eliminated. Young inexperienced workers have very little prospect of work because companies cannot justify the risk.

If we need higher wages, we need full employment. Nothing raises wages like labor shortage. See: late-90s

[AggregateDemand]

I don't agree with President Obama on everything, and in general, I think he's been very unhelpful when it comes to the problem of income inequality. One thing I do agree with him on is this: Anyone who is willing to work a 40 hour day in the United States should not live in poverty.

That's a very nice thing to say, and I'm sure it gives you a buzz to say it, but it doesn't reflect life on this planet.

We have markets so we don't have to deal with futile, unrealistic mandates from moral busy-bodies. The market says that unskilled labor in the United States is not valuable relative to the productivity of salaried workers. Government mandate will not change the underlying economics.

So we are confronted with a choice. Use the government to close the gap between ethical wages and market wages or we can complain about corporations and capitalism, while making futile attempts to command the economy. Democrats have only complained and commanded, with a brief respite to establish a vote-buying scheme (welfare), and that's why the lower classes suffer unnecessarily.