by Christopher P Shelley

Created on: July 28, 2008

The minimum wage hike has already hurt the general US economy. Since the initial phase of the hikes, there has been 6 straight months of job losses. Moreover, those who advocated for these raises and were repeatedly warned of the consequences, adeptly blame their political opponents for the disastrous results.

But it remains a popular issue so who does it help? Statistically it helps those 1% of the workforce earning minimum wage, who are most likely teenagers living with their parents. The truth is, the actual beneficiaries are generally not the hardship cases that are paraded around when this issue arises.

In any case, these workers are not the real target of this 2007 law. The real target is the unionized federal government workforce. The big secret is: everytime the minimum wage is raised this army of millions of government employees gets the same percentage increase in THEIR wages.

So as the minimum wage rises so does the biggest government expense (wages), so does the deficit, so does inflation, so does your tax bill. The big winners are the government employees who receive these repeated raises and are able to stay ahead of the inflation curve. They in turn are most likely to vote for the politician or party that keeps the increases coming. A wonderfully vicious quid-pro-quo circle if you're lucky enough to be one of the chosen few.

But who does it hurt? Everyone who is not an unionized government worker, an illegal alien, a teenager or a politician. The hardest hit are the working class who already being financially stretched, cannot afford the inevitable layoff or tax increase.

Of course to fund this massive new spending, the government could print up some extra money and pass it along, and in fact is doing this right now. But the end result of that policy is a crashing dollar and spiking commodity costs (gasoline) which again, hits the working class the hardest.

In the end, the lament that this law helps the working poor is merely a treacherous bait and switch maneuver orchestrated to enrich and empower an already bloated federal government. The scam will continue to be successful so long as the true consequences go unreported and the government/union complex can continue to fool a sizeable number of naive voters.

This corrupt scheme should serve as a reminder of the fragility of our traditions:

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."
Alexis de Tocqueville

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