(08-13-2019 01:13 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote: [ -> ]I'm shocked that you think that doubling the minimum wage would result in the costs of everything doubling. That is such an astoundingly bold and all encompassing claim, that I'm really surprised you made it. There are so many different forces at play in the macro-economic world that it clearly is not as simple as "double the minimum amount labor can be paid - double the cost of goods."
For example:
Quote:By looking at changes in restaurant food pricing during the period of 1978–2015, MacDonald and Nilsson find that prices rose by just 0.36 percent for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, which is only about half the size reported in previous studies. They also observe that small minimum wage increases do not lead to higher prices and may actually reduce prices. Furthermore, it is also possible that small minimum wage increases could lead to increased employment in low-wage labor markets.
https://www.upjohn.org/research-highligh...her-prices
a) the left has often argued that the increases in the min wage between 1978 and 2015 hadn't kept up with inflation.... Nobody is currently talking about increases of that magnitude
b) the quality of a 1978 vs 2015 McDonald's burger isn't even debatable so we're not comparing apples:apples
c) the 'service' of a 1978 McDonald's vs 2015 isn't even debatable.
d) technology has come a LONG way since 1978... while technology certainly continues to advance, I don't think 'burger applications' is really the next hot wave of breakthroughs. I think we've seen most of what you're going to get out of burger technology
My point is, while prices may not double, there are other changes that will take place, none of which maintain the standards of quality, the levels of employment, the portion sizes or whatever else they think they can cut.
If min wage prices rose....
you would see a compression of those wages above min wage to the extent that employers could do so
you would see standards of service or quality drop to the extent that employers could do so
you would see technology replace jobs to the extent that employers could do so
to the extent that they can not do so, you would see costs rise to the extent that they must
if they can not raise prices, then you would generally see them close businesses
I hate to be so simplistic, but if you lay a coil of string down on the table and you grab it from the right and pull, you will first leave the left side alone and simply uncoil the string. This is working inefficiency out of your business. Eventually, you move the whole thing to the right. Same with pulling on the left.
Raising the minimum wage is pushing the left edge of the string to the right. It simply increases the inefficiency/the amount of string coiled up until the 'owners' decide that their money is not making their preferred return at which point they either pull on the right, or if they can't... they simply close the business.