My Undeserved Raise; Courtesy of the Federal Government

On July 24 the American minimum wage will increase by 70 cents to an arbitrary rate of $7.25 an hour.  Since I work for the minimum wage, I’ll be seeing a fairly large chunk of change being added to my paychecks.  However, I don’t see the increase as necessarily beneficial to me, or to my fellow Americans.  

First of all, relatively few Americans actually work for the minimum wage.  I believe the number is less than five percent.  So already, we have a law that only benefits a relatively small amount of people.  Second of all, increasing minimum wage will increase inflation on the already struggling dollar.  

Perhaps Congress thought they were being nice and giving minimum wage earners a better shot at achieving the American Dream; but do the pros outweigh the cons? 

I’m going to have to say a most emphatic no.  Minimum wage earners are not the only people being affected by this law.  This law has huge consequences for business owners.  They have to pay their workers that 70 cents more and still make a decent profit off their product or service.  In order to do this at a steady rate, they’re going to have to make some cuts, or more likely, increase prices.  When prices increase, you’re going to see a decrease in customers, and when customers stop coming…well, you understand basic economics. 

Business owners should be free to decide for themselves how much they pay their employees.  You might say; “But they’ll just take advantage of their workers and pay them an unspeakably low wage.”  This is not very likely.  Competition between businesses will ensure that workers get paid fairly, without the inflation caused by a minimum wage increase.  If a worker is dissatisfied with one employer, he can find another that will pay him more. 

Letting businesses decide their own employees’ wages is a much more practical way to ensure economic growth.  Businesses will be free to grow, unrestrained by federal regulations. 

Do I really deserve this 70 cent increase at the expense of America’s economy?

Lonesome

I’m getting really impatient. Mindy will be home today at around five. And guess what; I’ll be working! Is it really worth making the money if I have to be away from my girlfriend?

I am going to buy her things, so I guess it works out okay, but I wish I made more money. Minimum wage just went up, but that just means everything else will go up too.

I’m so restless! I don’t feel like doing anything except holding her, and she’s not here…

If I get some kind of disease…

I was working today (at my horrible minimum wage job), and I cut my knuckle on a beef rib that I was peeling fat from. The water that all these ribs are in is obviously bloody and nasty. I have major problems with doing this work anyway, and now I could get Mad Cow Disease or something! I need a different job, but there aren’t any. Why do first jobs have to be so awful?

I also got my AP scores in the mail the other day. I ripped them up after looking at them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not usually a violent person, but 3s on all of my tests? I wasn’t expecting to do incredibly well with Biology or History, so I wasn’t angry about that. But English? That’s my subject! I was expecting at least a 4. I did extremely well on my practice test. And I always did well on my in-class essays. I truly do not understand what happened. I felt like the test was easy while I was taking it, and I wrote solid essays. I wish I could see my scores for each section of the test, but college board doesn’t let you see.

Mindy comes home on Saturday, so I am very excited about that. She’s been gone for a month!