It appears to be the case that the fifteen-dollar minimum wage mandate is now the Democrat party consensus. The adoption appeals to an ever-hardening left on economic policy, and pushes business owners further away from Democrat interests. Of course, the left never has the entrepreneur’s interest at heart; here are 6 reasons why.
1. Democrats care more about wage disparity than the fact that running a business is risky.
Being an entrepreneur is a risky endeavor. Tons of time, money, and effort can be loaded into a business and at the same time be not guaranteed to succeed. Economic downturn, lawsuits, poor market timing, any array of reasons can sink a business, and more often than not, the entrepreneur’s livelihood relies on the doors staying open. Business owners even leverage their own assets in tough times to keep the lights on.
Meanwhile, the low skill employees of these entrepreneurs risk nothing to very little. Low skill laborers serve an important role in many businesses and are valued members of their teams, but they have a set wage in a position that is likely not too hard to come by. When Democrats say business owners are greedy and should pay their employees more, they undercut the extreme risks and hardships the owners may have gone through in order to get a higher wage, while the employees get to cash in on their employer’s back.
2. The left thinks the American economy is a zero-sum game, therefore there should be a salary cap.
The left believes there should be a limit to how much money a person can earn because they believe rich people are keeping all the wealth out of the hands of the poor. This is nonsense. When people do business, trade goods and services for cash, both parties are better off than they were before the trade. If this were not the case, they wouldn’t have voluntarily made the trade in the first place. Thus extremely wealthy entrepreneurs should be extremely wealthy because they made many other people better off as well. There should never be a cap on wages because entrepreneurs should be free to make as much money as possible so they can employ more workers and make more people wealthier.
3. Unfortunately Trump thinks this as well; International trade is a zero-sum game where Americans lose, therefore punish international businesses.
It is hard to see jobs leave the states for other countries, but when goods and services can be produced much cheaper abroad and resold at a discount to the American consumer, it is much better than having to buy more expensive and poorer quality products as a result of protectionist policies. The proper way to bring back jobs would be voluntarily through deregulation of industry and decreasing the corporate income tax to drive investment, not by the government threatening businesses and picking winners and losers.
4. Democrats argue for more red tape.
Regulations are a hassle for business owners. Getting things past the government is time-consuming and costly. Regulations also make it harder for new innovations to emerge in a field; this is why most innovative technologies and methods come out of the least-regulated industries.
5. Leftists try to sell the minimum wage in a Ponzi scheme pitch to small businesses.
A common argument for raising the minimum wage states that small businesses will do better because more people will have more money to spend as a result of the minimum wage hike. If this were true, businesses would collectively raise their own workers’ wages without government intervention, eventually making unlimited amounts of money. People with half a brain can see through this argument; it’s too bad leftists only have a stem.
6. Forget about religious freedom and convictions. Two-fold if you’re a Christian.
Although not a recommended frequent business practice, businesses should be allowed to deny anyone service for any reason. This protects business owners from being forced to cater events they do not agree with. On the other hand, businesses which abuse this privilege will be cast out by the free market.