Dave at Exactly Right blogs about a possible 28% increase in the Ontario minimum wage. Naturally, this upsets me.
Neither the Liberals nor NDP care about the jobs lost because of minimum wage increases. They count on their voters to have no understanding of economics.
Hike it to $10.25 per hour? Why not to $25 an hour? Of course they dare not raise it that high--they know that intervention has negative effects. The game is to make sure there's enough political gain to mask the economic losses.
The minimum wage workers who do still have jobs rush to thank the intervening government. The ones who lose or can never find jobs will probably not think to blame the government either. They'll think it's still another corporate scheme to increase profits and deny workers a "living wage". That's what the left's propaganda machine feeds them with the aid of the media. The businesses that never even start up or start up in Mexico because of this never even flash into peoples' minds.
As I understand it the NDP may have another motive to support minimum wage increases. The wage packages of some unions are tied to multiples of the minimum wage. More money for their voters! (The ones whose employers don't go belly up that is).
Meanwhile, conservatives who understand economics and care for low skilled and young Canadians are left opposing crazy schemes like this. And we take a lot of heat too, because the NDP and Liberals always use it to paint us as on the side of corporations.
Left wing politicians... exploiting the economic ignorance since the beginning of politics...
