Czechoslovakia and Zakarpatia wrote:Quite a bit of right-wingers suggest that even a modest increase of the minimum wage would lead to "catastrophic hyperinflation" and "economic ruin", an argument which obviously has no basis in reality.
Quite a bit of Left-Wingers suggest that even a large increase of the minimum wage will lead to "huge improvements for the poor" & "economic prosperity for the minimum wage worker", an argument which obviously has no basis in reality.
^ there you go. Fixed the terms for you. See how lovely a logical fallacy is?
Also your various "links" mean nothing. I can provide my own that I assembled in about a minute of searching with my browser:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/i ... oyment.asphttps://www.epionline.org/oped/o76/https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammillsa ... 98f1cf1e7dhttps://www.npr.org/2019/07/08/73960796 ... s-cbo-sayshttps://www.forbes.com/sites/gregoryfer ... 6fcaad6ffahttps://reason.com/2019/02/26/minimum-w ... or-robots/& more. Not to mention, many advocates of minimum wage simply don't look at the context of the policy. Let me explain.
We live in a world where automation is becoming an ever more present reality. Even today, businesses such as Taco Bell or Mcdonalds are beginning to implement self serving kiosks that eliminate the need for a cashier. By increasing the minimum wage, sure, those workers will be better off... in the short run. In the long run, companies will begin to look for ways to cut those costs down. Especially mega-corporations like Mcdonalds where the constant goal is how to expand their profit margins. Now, maybe in the 50's or 60's automation seemed like a distant dream. But we are in 2020, where, again, you have self serving kiosks.
For those who look to "morality" as the deciding factor. Why don't they answer this?
Is it moral to help benefit workers for a year or two, only for them to be replaced by a machine?
Will you be there to pay for the lives of those workers when they get laid off? Or will you still be here, on NationStates? Crying about how the world is unfair that we don't pay Joe at Mcdonalds $50 an hour?
& to critics who state, "Automation will happen regardless of minimum wage". Perhaps, but to think again in the mind of a company. They will be looking to cut costs. Machines are still that: machines. They require maintenance, upgrades, etc. to remain relevant. The cost of a worker in the IT field is higher (& depending on the job / skillset required it could be MUCH higher) than the cost of a minimum wage employee. <---- this does not also account for the increase in expense of say electricity or other minuscule factors that one does not consider which factor into overhead costs for a business.
So again, simply raising the minimum wage may seem like a sweet deal in the short run but not in the long run.