A common trope in literature and pop culture informs us that nothing good comes without a price or consequences. Most of us know that you cannot make a wish with a genie or a deal with the Devil that isn’t inevitably going to work against you. Movies and television, highbrow and lowbrow, repeat this moral in myriad forms, endlessly and relentlessly. Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction writer extraordinaire, even codified the idea in his principle of TANSTAAFL, or

There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

When it comes to politics and pandering, however, people are extremely willing to ignore that which has been hammered into their brains for their entire lives. Nowhere is this more evident in modern society than in the pursuit of a massive minimum wage increase.

A NY City restaurant owner I know via a couple degrees of separation was recently approached en masse by his kitchen staff with an ultimatum. Since the minimum wage for waitstaff recently skyrocketed, they felt they were deserving of raises as well. Cooks in such restaurants, being skilled labor that’s not easily replaced, typically make more than minimum wage to begin with. The cooks demanded a raise or they’d quit. The owner, left with no choice in the matter, gave them what they wanted.

He then dusted off an old offer-to-buy he had received for the property, contracted the sale, and shut the entire operation down a few weeks later. The math of such restaurants (I used to own and operate one) has steadily been getting worse, and the big minimum wage bumps in NY (past and scheduled) are enough to kill off the last vestiges of profitability for many of them.

His cooks, meanwhile were left in a dazed state, wondering what just happened, why it happened, and what to do next.

Yes, this is only one anecdote, and anecdotes are not data. It does, however, align with basic economic theory, and it reflects the reality of the campaign to drastically increase the minimum wage. Contrary to the narrative from the liberal panderers who claim it’ll help the working classes and make their lives better, bending the market to the breaking point by mandating that employers pay wages far in excess of what they’d normally be destroys businesses and eliminates jobs.

Some argue that this is intentional, and meant to put people on public assistance so that they become Democratic voters forever. I don’t think so, though. This would violate Hanlon’s razor and assume Machiavellian talent and skill in people who can’t argue their way out of a paper bag. The minimum wage is pure pandering to a public that’s either economically illiterate, prioritizing good intentions over actual outcomes, expecting to benefit personally, or cynically buying votes with empty promises.

The people most hurt by a minimum wage increase are not the do-gooders who’ll go to bed wrapped up in self-satisfaction. They’re not the politicians whose pandering gets them re-elected. They’re not the higher wage earners who can leverage the new minimum wage for concessions from their employers. The people most hurt are the people at the bottom of the economic ladder, the ones who won’t be able to find work because of that minimum wage. Sadly, they’re the ones who are urged to demand, loudly, that minimum wages be increased. They are wishing for the easier path, the one that doesn’t involve improving their skills and experience in order to earn more money. They’re the one’s rubbing the genie’s lamp or signing the Devil’s contract. They should know better, given how often we’ve all been told that gifts come with consequences.

Sure, some will get those higher minimum wage jobs. Others won’t. They’ll have an even harder time finding work, as employers automate and as higher-skilled workers, now willing to work for that higher wage, compete with them. It’s a terrible outcome, because they’ll have been done in by a mix of do-goodery and lies from people who themselves should know better.

If you support a minimum wage increase because you believe it will benefit you, think about the consequences of your support. You might be among those who comes out ahead. Or, you might, like the restaurant cooks, find yourself out of a job and wondering what happened.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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