Matt makes a very good point. For many young people, the experience gained in their early jobs are more important in the long run than the money earned. By raising the minimum wage, we deter some employers from offering work to the young and inexperienced. The interventionists seem to understand that there is a connection between the cost of something and people’s desire to buy it. Just think about cigarettes. Ever-increasing cigarette taxes are advocated at least in part as a means of cutting down on smoking. To some degree it probably has. And the same thing is true when it comes to the cost of labor. Business owners won’t buy as many workers at a high price as they would have at a lower price.
The men in the $1,000 suits are not mainly aiming at the working poor, though. Those people most likely realize that if an increase in the minimum wage is enacted, the employer will adjust somewhere else, leaving them not all that much better off. The audience for the display of conspicuous compassion by the likes of Richard Moore is primarily the well-to-do who will feel good about themselves for having done something to help the poor — or so they believe.
