"For instance, did you know government could grow the economy by mandating a higher minimum wage?"

Wow, this guy has stumbled upon the cure for Africa's economic problems: just have the entire continent adopt a high minimum wage. But they shouldn't adopt a crappy minimum wage like we have in the U.S.A., they should set their minimum wage at, oh, I don't know, maybe $25 an hour. That should be just enough to make them the economic powerhouse of the entire world. Who knew the solution was just a price control away?

The effect of a minimum wage increase in the real world

Ken, you know how slow I am to take on the junk science here.

“Now, folks, agree or disagree about that. It might hurt business, it might not,” he added, suggesting that “when more people earn more money, they have more money to spend.” Ali Velshi via Ken Shepherd

But this is ridiculous.  Basic economics 101.  Try to follow this one Ali, baby.

I sell X for $1.00.  You tax it 3%.  Maybe I can still sell X for 1.03, maybe not.  Why?  Competition.  My neighbor, who also sells X will sell it for 99 cents and absorb one cent in the tax hike.  So, he sells for $1.02.

Gee.  Where did that penny come from?  My profit.  The government tax just increased the price of my goods by either 1 cent or 3 cents, depending on how you look at it.  But under economic basics, it has been shown to be irrefutable that increases in taxes increase prices and cut into profits.

The consumer is not a unthinking robotic well of purchasing power.  Only when it comes to basic commodities like bread, sugar and eggs will the consumer consistently pay higher prices (up to some point of course) without the seller having to cut profits.

So, now, we have a government mandated increase in the cost of labor.

What is that but a direct transfer payment from my pocket to the pocket of my employees?  That would be a tax by any other name without the govenment middle man fondling the money first.

So, I either have to raise my prices, lower my profit or fire the worker.

In the case of a sales tax like above, I have no choice but to accomodate the tax or stop selling 'stuff'.

In the case of labor, I have no choice but to re-evaluate my life and decide whether to keep an employee or shoot them.

That's a big duh.

So, no Ali, people don't argue this basic.  They already know about this basic.  And they understand it.  But you, twit that you are, think you can discuss this reality with little or no regard to the impact minimum wage increases might have on small business, dismissing it as "maybe" or "maybe not" <my quotes>.

So, let's look a little bit deeper into the minimum wage stuff, how's about that Ari?

When the minimum wage is raised, Unions renegotiating their contracts get automatic increases in many because the Union wage is pegged to the minimum wage.

What?  You mean this is a cheap political pandering ploy to Unions?

Well... yeah, for the most part.  When we can stop work on the National Business of the United States Government in the time of a booming economy and of war to vote on increasing the minimum wage over several years by a buck or two for 479K workers -- well...

ACA

...

Hillary Clinton says: "I want to take those profits."

Yeah, saw the Vanilla Ice tax rap yesterday.... at first, I thought it was a joke.... I always think things are a joke when Vanilla Ice is involved.

Word to yer mother!

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"These are the times that try men's souls." ~ Thomas Paine