Highest Minimum Wage in the USA
Highest Minimum Wage in the USA
Nebraska Will Be Trolled
Some shopkeeping notes. If you are a subscriber, check your spam/junk folder of your email account. Substack postings tend to go there a lot. If you decide to unsubscribe, keep in mind, you can still visit my blog at any time to catch up. Also, if you want to email me, just drop the dot and put in the @ and email me at andrewlsullivan@substack.com.
The word is out. Nebraskans will vote on minimum wage (https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/voter-id-minimum-wage-petitions-qualify-for-general-election-ballots/ and https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/voter-id-minimum-wage-petitions-make-nebraskas-november-ballot/article_3cdb09ba-2df3-11ed-9e26-7729fd0a7d29.html).
At $15 an hour, if passed, Nebraska will have the highest minimum wage of any state or most states which will make Nebraska uncompetitive, particularly against Iowa, Kansas and Wyoming. Make the comparisons yourself at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state This will ruin Nebraska's ability to compete with other states. This ballot initiative will do great damage to Nebraska's digital economy where digital work can be shifted to any place in the world.
Most workers get paid well above the minimum wage so when they hear about where the minimum wage is at, they presumed people are suffering because of it. This is false. Many people need to work to pick up skills, stay off the streets and improve their self-worth or flat out have people to talk to.
But this won’t convince many. They fail to realize how poorly the Nebraska minimum wage law is written. It is a straight line with no exceptions (https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=48-1203). Minnesota has a better minimum wage law as it makes differences between small and large employers, as well as for young people and new hires (https://dli.mn.gov/minwage). Minnesota realizes young people do not have enough experience to be paid as much compared to other groups.
There are other problems with high minimum wages. Between minimum wage and the payroll tax, illegal immigration is fostered.
Most people do not work near the minimum wage and are ignorant of the “dog trying to catch its tail” problem of the minimum wage. Most business people do not understand it. Raising the minimum wage does nothing good. No matter where it is set at, the person on minimum wage is at the bottom of the pay scale, a village idiot, and cannot put pressure on prices. The smartest businesses and landlords know this.
No joke. A vendor seller paid close attention to the wage market. When the minimum wage went up, he raised his prices a bit, and a bit more later. No one complained as they were just grateful the minimum wage went up so they could still buy the items. People simply do not make the connection of the minimum wage hike forcing prices up. Inflation acts like boiling water and people are the frog enjoying the bath, until they can’t.
The most conniving landlords know this. The minimum wage goes up and more tenants will want to upgrade their rooms, but to prevent this, the landlord preemptively raises the rent by a mere $10 or more a month. Yet, the renters won’t fault the landlord but are grateful the minimum wage went up. In other words, people accept a cosmetic change in their wealth, when they are still stuck at the bottom of the career ladder. No new wealth is created by changing the minimum. It merely inflates prices.
And it gets worse. There are businesses out there who believe they have no responsibility to raise employees’ wages. They are the bottom feeders. They hire anyone, pay only minimum wage, and provide no raises or other benefits. They largely exist because of minimum wage laws. See more at:
