Let’s say there is a pizza with eight slices. You have seven friends over, so each person, including you, gets one slice of pizza. Now, imagine one of your friends pulls out a picket sign that says, “We want bigger slices of pizza!” You and your friends all agree, these pieces are too small.
The next weekend, you and your seven friends call the pizza place and request a pizza with bigger slices. Your pizza arrives and you are pleased to see the slices are huge! But when the slices are distributed you realize that while the pieces are bigger, there are only seven of them. Your friend who was left pizza-less pees his pants and runs home with tears streaming down his face.
Last semester, during the State of the University, a student asked why her hours at an on-campus job were being cut. It was explained to her that her hours were being cut because minimum wage was going up and the budget for student employment was remaining the same. Looks like she’s the one who didn’t get a slice.
Raising the minimum wage seems like a great idea for about two seconds, until you look one step ahead into the future. The fact is, raising the minimum wage only helps the employees who have worked at the business for years, full time workers. It leaves us students struggling to find work, gives businesses less room to grow and makes babies cry. People will work less and make the same amount of money they did before.
Now let’s say the pizza party kids are back the next weekend (I don’t know why they are obsessed with pizza) and they order their pizza. This time though, they want eight slices, but they want their slices to remain big. They realize now that instead of paying 10 bucks for a large pizza with eight small slices, they now have to pay $15 for an extra-large pizza.
Let’s say you have a really “nice” boss at a taco stand who does not want to cut hours to compensate for the new wage requirements. To make up for the profit loss, the boss now charges $7 for three tacos instead of five. Economics 101 should tell you that there will be a loss in demand at the taco stand. The taco stand is in trouble, folks.
A mandatory increase in minimum wage will put people out of work, puts strain on businesses and raises prices. Guys, it’s a no-brainer.
Just to make sure the Bernie supporters are on the same page, I was not actually talking about a pizza. I was using what is called a “metaphor.”