Route 66 Malt Shop in Albuquerque is refusing to pay the new minimum wage set by ABQ's city council, according to a report by KRQE on Feb. 18. The owner says he he's refusing in order to ensure that he stays in business. Progress New Mexico, is taking issue with the owner of the 18 year old shop, stating that he can't pick and choose which laws he wants to follow.
Minimum wages are a popular platform for Democrats because it makes them look like the guardians of low income workers who are scraping by and sometimes not making enough to pay their bills. But does the minimum wage actually help the least paid, lowest skilled workers?
Economics professor Antony Davies says no, in fact minimum wages only increase pay for those who are likely to get increases in their pay anyway, while actually hurting those the minimum wage is intended to help - the least skilled and/or disadvantaged workers. Why? You can watch the short video below where Davies explains it, but in short the reason why minimum wages are bad for workers, is because they don't take into account how much an employer can actually afford to pay their workers. So instead of giving everyone raises, an employer has to actually lay off workers in order to stay open for business and give the more productive workers the required minimum wage. So for the least productive worker, instead of being $1.00 richer, he's actually $7.50 and hour poorer because the owner can no longer afford to keep him employed.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That may be debatable, but the road to economic oppression most certainly is paved with good intentions. The minimum wage is not only anti-small business, but if a city government wants to operate like this, they'd better start figuring out how they are going to maintain their revenue, because the local businesses who pay the most gross receipts revenue, will be out of business and their workers unemployed. What's more important to the workers at Route 66? Being employed for less, or not being employed at all? What's more important the city of Albuquerque? Having a high minimum wage that only big corporations can pay, or having a healthy economy where everyone can participate?
Tuesday at 11:30am, Progress New Mexico is planning a protest at Route 66. The owner of the restaurant is hoping that his supporters will show up in a counter protest. What are your thoughts? Do you support the minimum wage? Do you see how this is actually hurting the people it's intended to help? Comment below and share this article.
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