Winners and Losers at $15.00 per Hour

Today a well-orchestrated effort, driven by a highly paid group, will attempt to convince the American people fast food workers around the country have gone on strike due to low wages. This effort will have several winners and losers.

The first winner is the Obama Administration desperate to change the subject away from their failed health care system. Americans now understood they were lied to about keeping their policies, keeping their doctors and saving $2,500.00 a year for insurance. The President cannot defend what happened.

The second winner will be labor unions. History shows us the need for organized labor in the private sector. Due to expansion into the government sector, a falling manufacturing base and a lack of protection for workers from things like Obamacare, union participation is falling. A new tactic is to talk about income inequity and attempt to tap new sources for union participation.

 The third winner will be Progressives/Collectivists/Socialists. Americans were struck when we were told the new government websites for Obamacare were up to Private Sector speed. Suddenly, many of the things we have been told for years are being viewed in a different manner. Maybe the government is not the best source for jobs, health care and retirement planning. People are wondering if giving big government agencies power to control so many aspects of our life is a good idea. By bringing up their proven talking points of minimum wage and income inequity, these big government types are attempting to bring people back into reliance on government and government programs.

The most obvious losers will be fast food workers. Many fast food restaurants are owned by private individuals. If the cost of labor goes up, only so much of the cost can be passed along. The first thing business owners will do is reduce their work force to reduce their costs. Next they will buy more labor saving devices to allow for higher production at lower costs. Third, these business owners will reduce hours. It is only in the recent past that we have 24 hour fast food locations. Over the past five years the people hurt the most by big government expansion has been the poor. The very people who Progressives claim to love and protect always lose when government expands. The rich don’t use government programs, they don’t stand in lines, they don’t report how many job interviews they had, and they don’t face any of the obstacles that come from government intervention into everyday life. Not one rich person is concerned the recent expansion of food stamps may be temporary. Not one rich person is concerned there may be a smaller choice of fast food due to a change in the economics of the fast food industry. The only people who suffer are the people unable to afford to provide for their families and are forced into a dependence on government. Government rules adversely affecting business adversely affects the working class.

The biggest losers are the American people. This is not about the minimum wage. This is not about unionization of fast food restaurants. This is not about income inequity. This is not about helping poor people or providing a living wage. This whole exercise is about establishing the idea that government should be in charge of deciding how much a privately owned business should be forced to pay people. This carefully planned show is about expanding the influence of government into the private sector. It is not enough that big government is in the process of ruining our health care system, they want to be the “decider” in every aspect of private industry. This is about self-selected elites who believe they know better than the population how things should work. These elites were shocked to discover all their great ideas on health care have been so wrong. However, this will not deter these same people from attempting to intervene in other aspects of life including everything from minimum wage to the price of energy. In private industry failure is noted and those responsible for the failure are held accountable. In government those who fail are not held accountable and are free to intervene in another area.

The $15.00 minimum wage argument will result in winners and losers. When special interests aligned with big government win, the American people lose.