Maybe this Faulkner guy should apply for a job with John Edwards’ Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity. They need deep thinkers like him.
His own ignorance is astounding. Does he believe that workers never receive raises unless the government mandates them? Does he believe that our competitiveness is somehow increased by compelling all employers of workers who earn the minimum wage to give all of them identical increases in pay, whether deserved or not? Does he not understand that competition for labor prevents employers from underpaying their workers? Doesn’t he know that most workers who are hired at the minimum wage start earning raises within a few months?
Alas, we witness here the moldy old Marxist view that business owners and their employees are antagonists and the the latter can only make progress through coercion by the government.
So by all means, Mr. Faulkner, call the CPWO. It hasn’t done anything yet. Maybe you’ll nail down a contract for a policy paper on how raising the minimum wage not only fights poverty, but makes us more competitive.
