Progressives never seem to grasp the fact that raising the minimum wage has a negative effect on job creation. Berkeley, California wants to raise their minimum wage to $19 an hour.
Are small businesses ready for a $19 minimum wage?
Polly Armstrong likes to say that she runs the only left-wing Chamber of Commerce in America.
Armstrong is the chief executive of the chamber in Berkeley, California, a city that’s been voted as the most liberal city in an already liberal-leaning state. But it’s partly because so many residents support the kind of values that are held dear by progressives — a “living wage” and worker rights, among them — that the city is currently roiled by a proposal to boost the city’s minimum wage to $19 an hour by 2020.
“Because we care about our workers, it feels good to say everyone should get a living wage,” Armstrong said. But with the $19 per hour proposal, she said, “What I hear is business owners who say, ‘This may put me out of business, but I don’t want to say publicly that I don’t want to pay my workers everything they deserve.'”
Some business owners don’t even earn that high of a wage themselves, Armstrong added. “It’s just that bottom line.”
Why stop at $19 an hour?
Why not $50 or $100? Then everyone will be rich!
