The Minimum Wage and the Problem of Honor
16th February 2013
Kevin Williamson blows the whistle.
The problem is that in the current political climate, a deal is never a deal. Republicans might agree to a small increase in the minimum wage in return for indexing it to CPI and then leaving it alone — if not forever, then at least for some meaningful period of time. Once the long-term rule is established, markets can adjust, and investments can be made. In theory, that would be a pretty good deal, but there is nothing to stop Democrats from advocating further increases to the indexed minimum wage every time they feel the need to trot out a little class-warfare artillery, which is about once a week, apparently.
The president, in his State of the Union speech, said (with an absolutely straight face) that the country needs to agree on some long-term, bipartisan solutions to our economic troubles, particularly our fiscal troubles, rather than career from one manufactured crisis to the next. I agree entirely. But President Obama and his party are significant manufacturers of manufactured crises. Not a minute after securing the taxes increased on the so-called rich they wanted, President Obama and the Democrats have proposed a new round of tax increases, and will no doubt accuse Republicans of “holding our economy hostage” if they resist them.