I was listening to a program on NPR tonight about Biden's proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. One of the guests argued that, contrary to what Republicans always say, an increase in the minimum wage won't hurt either the economy or the prospects of entry-level people looking for their first job. If that's really true, perhaps $15 an hour isn't ambitious enough. In a man-on-the-street interview, one guy said he needed $25 an hour to live decently. Well Hell's Bells, if we can do $25 without a problem, why not do $50?
We could of course come at this from the other direction too. Maybe instead of increasing the minimum wage we just freeze the price of food, rent, gas, and everything else?
This fortunately is an experiment that has already been done. When food prices are rising many governments in many places have tried to solve the problem by setting a low price for bread. It never works. Bakers aren't stupid. If you tell them to sell bread below cost very soon they quit baking it at all. And it's not a solution to tell them to make it up on volume.
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