Last week the House of Representatives passed an increase to the minimum wage. I think the odds of it becoming law are probably slim, although it might create some issues for Republican lawmakers.
I imagine that they will ignore the very argument they used when they passed the tax break for the wealthy, that it will pay for itself in additional revenue.
The workers who would be impacted by this are not investing in the stock market or buying Government bonds. The money would be spent as soon as it was available.
There is a multiplying impact of money flow in the economy. The second person who gets it then spends it on something they need and that person spends it and so on until taxes or other factors dissipate its value.
It would also likely cause additional salaries to increase since people making slightly more than the minimum would want to keep that differential.
Would it lead to fewer jobs? It might, it really depends on how employers react.
These are low paying jobs and replacing them with automation may or may not be affordable. I'm going to assume that the number of workers is roughly equivalent to the lowest number of workers needed for operations. Places that employ minimum wage employees are generally not hiring extra workers.
We will hear all these arguments that are always rolled out but paying our lowest paid workers a living wage is simply fair.
Isn't this economy supposed to be so great?
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