Minimum wage increases are 'supercharging' economy, says U.S. multimillionaire

[JLM]

If you thought the minimum wage only moved in one direction, then Missouri Republicans have a surprise for you.

After St. Louis leaders raised the wage floor for workers within city limits, the state GOP recently passed what’s known as a statewide “preemption” law, forbidding localities from taking such matters into their own hands. On Friday, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) said he would let the law go into effect, thereby barring cities and counties from setting a minimum wage higher than the state level.

For low-wage earners in St. Louis itself, the new law will have a startling consequence: It will actually push the minimum wage back down, from the city-approved $10 per hour to the state-approved $7.70. The downgrade is slated to take effect on Aug. 28.

For someone earning the bare minimum, that’s a potential cut of 23 percent.

Missouri Republicans Lower St. Louis Minimum Wage From $10 To $7.70 | HuffPost

I think it will only work if everyone follows suit, but if everyone does it would be a damn good thing- get the dollar headed back to where it represents some value, putting an end to this insanity!

 

[Walter]

CA Will Lose 400,000 Jobs By 2022 Because Of Minimum Wage Hike
https://www.dailywire.com/news/24695/study-ca-will-lose-400000-jobs-2022-because-hank-berrien

 

[White_Unifier]

Provinces try to attract business with low taxes and low wage laws, but businesses want provinces to attract workers, especially immigrant workers. So provinces compete with each other over low-wage workers who are motivated to move and re-settle. Surprise surprise, capitalists, but driving down costs and treating people like garbage drives away the principle generator of all wealth: labour. When one province raises its minimum wage, others try to keep up. Other than the fact that Alberta is a flat frozen hellhole and British Columbia is paradise, why work in BC at $10/hr when you can work in Alberta for $15?

Minimum wage increases aren't the only things that supercharge economies and not all supercharged economies are created equal. Cheap and abundant credit puts money into workers pockets the same way. This has supercharged our economy to the point of making some places unlivable and personal debt untenable in the future. Right now our economy relies on the consumer power of imaginary wealth. This is due to collapse unless debt is forgiven (which would collapse the financial markets anyway) or people actually start being able to pay for things with the real wealth of wages. We have to solve this problem. What will likely happen is a repeat of 2008 though, where the market collapses, banks cash in, the rich get rich, and the poor suffer. And people will think the only solution is to do it all over again.

If a business has a hard time attracting labour, we don't need a law to force it to raise wages. It will naturally raise its offered wage for its own interest.