No, I don't believe in a minimum wage and I doubt I ever will. It goes against the laws of economics. While setting a mandatory floor for wages isn't the end of the world, it's not in the best interests of working people. If your skills are not worth what the minimum wage dictates, that essentially renders certain segments of the population unemployable. That's certainly not a good thing. I understand that people want higher wages. The way to get those higher wages is to educate yourself or acquire skills that people are willing to pay for.
Well I'm not surprised to hear about fast food workers demanding to be paid double for flipping burgers and putting fries in a box. But they simply don't understand what doubling the minimum wage would do to the corporations. Or to them. It's funny that it's always the people in the fast food industry that make these absurd demands, because I can guarantee that 6 months after the minimum wage goes to $20, 95% of orders in fast food places will be done using computers. This way all the company needs is those people in the back to make the food and 1-2 people to hand it over to the right customers. In fact a lot of fast food places in Europe already have this (though not as the only way to order, you can still also walk up to the counter and do it the old fashioned way) because the cost of having employees is so high.
I think what the minimum wage argument is about (at least here in NY) is the fact that there are many individuals that do work very hard, sometimes two or three jobs and they still are hard pressed to make ends meet. We are not talking about people that just want all the newest in gadgets, we are talking about people that fall through the cracks where they make to much for assistance but not enough to cover the bare bones basics. Yes it is nice to say they should have had better education and all sorts of things, but sadly sometimes people just don't have the brain capacity to do much more then simple jobs like flipping burgers or cleaning hotel rooms. You hear complaints if by so many people that to many people are overly subsidized by the government as it is. That's not always true and very hard for most people to understand if they have never been in some of the higher cost regions. It is true food costs are very expensive, the demand on church run pantries is amazing in New York. At $10 an hour you just about cover the cost of cereal and a gallon of milk. Maybe if there is a coupon or a sale you can add a dozen eggs. 5lbs of rice is $7. Alot of this is because of higher fuel costs. If things are to get better thats where they have to start, bring the cost of fuel back in line with wages.
These workers should all come to work in the City of Seattle then because minimum wage just rose to that here. I do have a bit of a problem with it because a minimum wage is not meant to be a living wage and is usually designed for those who are just getting into the work world. As you get experience in life, then your wages should grow accordingly. I don't think it is fair that someone working at McDonalds is about to get a big pay raise and my wages will stay where they are at.
