[0x27081990]

Economists have been warning this for more than decades[1]. There are extensive studies about it. There are even former Marxists who talked about it, like Thomas Sowell[2]:

>Sowell has said that he was a Marxist "during the decade of my 20s"; one of his earliest professional publications was a sympathetic examination of Marxist thought vs. Marxist–Leninist practice. His experience working as a federal government intern during the summer of 1960 caused him to reject Marxian economics in favor of free market economic theory. During his work, Sowell discovered an association between the rise of mandated minimum wages for workers in the sugar industry of Puerto Rico and the rise of unemployment in that industry. Studying the patterns led Sowell to theorize that the government employees who administered the minimum wage law cared more about their own jobs than the plight of the poor.

Why do almost everybody think they can go against the laws of economy?

[1] 50 Years of Research on the Minimum Wage: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/c876c468-ffca...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell#Education_and_ca...

[WaxProlix]

Minimum wage isn't really Marxist afaik, and people go against 'laws' of economy because they aren't laws in the same sense that say, thermodynamics or gravity seem to be. We have trends that arise out of messy and massively complex systems, and people feel free to believe that whatever variables were at play in some other situation aren't in theirs.

Edit: This is aside from any opinion about how good or bad the content of the article is, just pointing out why I think people are increasingly okay with ignoring economists' opinions.

[0x27081990]

>Minimum wage isn't really Marxist afaik

That's correct, but current Marxists or people who claim to be left-wing always make it a top priority issue to increment the minimum wage.

[vorotato]

I don't really understand why capitalists think they can continue to pay people the same amount in the context of increased efficiency. Profits are higher than ever but the public doesn't see a dime of it. Surely it will have negative impacts on consumption down the road.

[0x27081990]

Higher profits aren't a bad thing. Higher profits mean higher taxes paid, higher profits also mean more money put into work (personal investments or by third parties, i.e. put in a bank and the bank makes their own investments or loans it). Higher profits means wealth is being generated. Contrary to popular belief, minimum wage does not distribute wealth, but rather excludes those who have less, therefore helps accumulating wealth.

Minimum wage jobs aren't meant to be a job for life. It's an entry level job. If you want higher paid jobs, you need to earn it. Minimum wage increase causes unemployment, you end helping a few at the expense of others who happen to need help the most.

[oh_sigh]

Just a guess, but is it because increase inefficiencies has nothing to do with the actual workers skills?

For example, Someone owns a fence building company, and their crew can lay 1000' of fence a day by shoveling the fence post holes. The owner spends $100,000 and invests in a couple of big power augers, which lets his crew now lay 5000' of fence a day(also, the crew is less tired at the end of the day).

The crew is now 5x as productive as they were in the past, but it is because of the capital investment of the owner, not through any intrinsic increase in productivity from the crew itself.

Who gets to capture the increase in revenue?

[snarf21]

Very interesting. I know a lot of people think that EITC is a much more effective tool for helping the poor than high minimum wage.