Real wages haven't increased in decades because of inflation. The inflation is a direct result of the expansion of debt. Raising the minimum wage will increase wages artificially, but that increase will be passed on to something else, probably by increased prices on goods in general. So sure, workers may take home 20% more in their paycheck, but if they're paying 20% more on goods, the end result is the same. Thus, real wages aren't really rising and it's just an illusion.
This type of policy is ridiculously inflationary and gets us nowhere in the scheme of things. The left just doesn't understand that there is no free lunch in economics and there will never be one.
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That's fair enough. I may still not agree, but a federal minimum wage for a country as large as this one is absurd.
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And by the way, I don't mind paying more when I support local businesses. I always go to my local shoppes, farmers markets, and the like before grocery chains and corporate fuckhouses like Walmart. I also don't mind paying more when I go to a restaurant. I'm usually tipping 25-30% especially when someone I know or like is the server. But unfortunately, many people will stop going to these places if menu prices suddenly shoot up, and then you have the morons who hate to tip people in general because they're just terrible, stupid people, not because they're frequent travelers to Europe.