There has been a lot in the news lately about raising the minimum wage. I don’t have any minimum wage employees, so why should I care? I care and so should everyone else. It means that when the cost of labor goes up, no matter if you are buying something at Wal-Mart, McDonald’s or most everywhere else where something is purchased, the consumer pays more. So, when we’re sold the story, that there will be no tax increases for the middle class, this turns into another increase in expenses, it’s just not called a tax.
When I was growing up on a dairy farm, we had many minimum wage employees, especially during the summer. The majority of the time, they were happy to get the work and income. Things have changed, but not for the better. Here is an example, I recently did a mortgage for a client who is a farmer. I could relate to him because of my history.
We spent some time talking about the problems he was constantly having getting help. One thing he said hit home, he said that most would rather collect welfare than earn a minimum wage. Welfare in this country has gotten totally out of hand. 47 million folks are now collecting some sort of assistance, so why should they work for a minimum wage. There really isn’t an incentive for getting a job.
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If tomorrow morning we reduced our welfare expenditures, our deficit problems would start going away pretty quickly.
