The MinWage.

Democrat candidates for POTUS 2020 are once again calling for an increase in the Federal Minimum Wage.

All of them.

It seems like this happens every couple of years, just in time for folks to vote who are looking for a raise they can't seem to earn on their own.  Or when those who are looking for votes pander shamelessly to those who have them to sell.

When seemingly otherwise normal folks act so ignorant in public it makes me squirm.  For them.  And for America.  So this is where we've ended up?

-     Politicians demand an increase to the MinWage.  It's now at about $7.65, but many states have already bumped it up to $15.00 or even more.  And they've done this without any apparent understanding as to what those actions might produce.  And their actions are wrecking havoc.  Big time.  Why?

There's this thing called basic economics.  Many have studied this science.  I have.  Supply and demand, and all that.  It's pretty simple.  Except for those who've been afflicted by winning elections, or a substandard education, I guess.  But here are the Bottom Line Facts:

-     Many businesses operate on tiny, minuscule  profit margins.  Restaurants, for example, usually hope for a 2 - 5% bottom line profit.  Grocery stores: 1 - 2%.  Fast food joints:  2 - 5%.  Gas stations:  2 - 4%.  So any increase in their cost of doing business can, and does, dramatically impact their bottom-line profit.  

-     So being forced by the heavy-hand of Government to arbitrarily and automatically increase what they have to pay for labor, often small businesses' Number One Expense, can, and does, eradicate their profits.  So what do they do?

-     They increase their prices to cover their new expense, and run the risk of losing some of their clientele as a result.  Or they reduce the hours they hire, costing their employees income and reducing their ability to perform as a business.  Or they do both.  Or, they might simply pull down the shades, lock the door and head for the barn.  

-     So Bernie Sanders, et. al., demands we pay $15 an hour without regard to whether the job, any job, is worth that.  So the business raises its prices to cover the losses the MinWage increase causes.  The MinWage worker now must pay more of his/her/its (CA, doncha' know!) pay to purchase the very same things that have increased in price because of that self-same pay raise.

Moral of the Story:  You cannot force a business to lose money just because you think they make too much of it.  And "Progressives" seem to think that every business owner is a $Millionaire.  And making money off the labor of others is like, BAD or something.

The Bottom Line:  A business must make money or it cannot hire others.  And fully 75% of all American businesses are small (under 50 employees).  So, it stands to reason taking money from the pockets of employers that could use to hire others and grow and prosper will make it more difficult for them to do so.  Got it?  

So to all you "Progressive" redistributionists out there, it is entirely possible to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.  California has done its best over the past couple of decades to shoo away many of its biggest and best companies (Toyota, Carl's, Jr., Occidental Petroleum, etc.).  More than a dozen Fortune 500 companies have vacated this, the once-Golden State during that period, and they've taken a giant chunk of CA's Middle Class with them.  If you squeeze a business too hard, it will either move away or shut down.  

And in either case, you lose...