Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not help the Poor? The debate over whether to raise the Minimum wage is one of the most controversial topics in America right now. The question at the center of this debate is will raising the minimum wage do more harm than good. Some, like David Henderson an economics professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, would argue that a raise in the minimum wage would do virtually nothing for the impoverished except make them more poor. He believes that employers would stop hiring and start cutting benefits, force employers to do something that they really don’t want to do, and finally cause teenagers to drop out of school in search of high paying jobs only to find that no one wants to hire them. I, however, do
…show more content…
In his article, raising the minimum wage will not reduce poverty Professor Henderson, brings up two intriguing points. One, he states that if the minimum wage is raised employers will no longer want to hire unskilled workers. To support his theory, he uses the economic law of supply and demand. “The law states that at a higher price, less is demanded, it applies to grapefruit, cars, and yes labor.” Henderson basically compares people to fruit and material items. This is just sick and wrong because it is a tactic to dehumanize a part of the population that is already marginalized. It is almost as if he is saying that minimum-wage workers are just livestock that can be easily bought or sold. This type of thinking is poisonous because, it is this …show more content…
One misconception, in particular, peaked my interest because it seemed to be a reoccurring theme in Henderson’s article. According to Henderson and many other opponents to raising the minimum wage, small-business owners do not want to raise the minimum wage because it would hurt their businesses and that doing so would somehow be taking away their rights. However, according to the online article, the majority of small-business owners support a gradual rise of the minimum wage to at least 12$ an hour. Small-business owners almost never start off rich; they remember how hard it was for them to climb their way to the top and because of that they want to reach down and make the path to success a bit easier. Because, most business owners support an increase in the minimum wage it would be erroneous to believe that they would cut benefits for their workers if an increase were to
In his article, raising the minimum wage will not reduce poverty Professor Henderson, brings up two intriguing points. One, he states that if the minimum wage is raised employers will no longer want to hire unskilled workers. To support his theory, he uses the economic law of supply and demand. “The law states that at a higher price, less is demanded, it applies to grapefruit, cars, and yes labor.” Henderson basically compares people to fruit and material items. This is just sick and wrong because it is a tactic to dehumanize a part of the population that is already marginalized. It is almost as if he is saying that minimum-wage workers are just livestock that can be easily bought or sold. This type of thinking is poisonous because, it is this …show more content…
One misconception, in particular, peaked my interest because it seemed to be a reoccurring theme in Henderson’s article. According to Henderson and many other opponents to raising the minimum wage, small-business owners do not want to raise the minimum wage because it would hurt their businesses and that doing so would somehow be taking away their rights. However, according to the online article, the majority of small-business owners support a gradual rise of the minimum wage to at least 12$ an hour. Small-business owners almost never start off rich; they remember how hard it was for them to climb their way to the top and because of that they want to reach down and make the path to success a bit easier. Because, most business owners support an increase in the minimum wage it would be erroneous to believe that they would cut benefits for their workers if an increase were to