Advice

On the minimum wage

Hey, long time reader, first time writer. You have no idea what you’re talking about when you defended the minimum wage. It is the easiest thing in the world to defend the minimum wage simply by saying that you’re defending the poor and attacking the rich. It distorts the market. It destroys real jobs. It destroys the creation of jobs. Wage increases must be tied to productivity, not to political fantasy. Trust me, I have a PhD on this shit.

PS: I hope you’re writing that book of yours.

Okay, dude. Lemme hit you line by line:

Hey, long time reader, first time writer. You have no idea what you’re talking about when you defended the minimum wage.
I appreciate that you’re a fan, but you should know I don’t react well to a condescending tone. Prepare to be bitch slapped.

It is the easiest thing in the world to defend the minimum wage simply by saying that you’re defending the poor and attacking the rich.
You’re right. It’s easy. Know why? Because it’s the right thing to do. Wealth disparity is a grotesque byproduct of our economic system, and plutocrats don’t need apologists in the form of econ PhDs to cry havoc when the rest of us are just trying to level the playing field.

It distorts the market.
You mean like corporate subsidies, tax breaks, and regulatory capture? Yeah, god forbid we should ever distort your precious free market, especially in favor of the little guy.

It destroys real jobs. It destroys the creation of jobs.
Sure, that’s the fear-based Fox News way of putting it. Another way of putting it is that raising the minimum wage will disrupt large swaths of the economy that are organized around poverty wages. Will there be painful market corrections? Yes. THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT. If businesses can’t sustain themselves without paying their employees a living wage, then those businesses don’t deserve to exist.

Wage increases must be tied to productivity, not to political fantasy.
I agree. Wage increases must be tied to productivity, but the political fantasy is to assume that they ever were. If wage increases had kept pace with productivity after 1968, minimum wage would have reached $21.72 per hour in 2012. Wouldn’t that have been wonderful?

Trust me, I have a PhD on this shit.
In other words, you have a vested interest in the status quo. Listen, I respect your credentials, but I’ve been in a room full of econ PhDs, and you guys couldn’t agree on the color of money. That’s fine. Go sit and the corner and do some equations, professor. The rest of us have some class warfare to wage.

PS: I hope you’re writing that book of yours.
I am, and would you believe one of the themes is how wealth disparity poisons a society?

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