Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently took to Twitter to once again call for raising the federal minimum wage. She argued that $15 an hour, if anything, is a “deep compromise,” especially in light of the fact that, “McD’s workers in Denmark are paid $22/hr + 6 wks paid vacation.”
Article by Zilvinas Silenas from FEE.
This argument doesn’t hold up. Here’s the key consideration: A sharp increase in the minimum wage will almost always cause unemployment, but it will cause more unemployment the higher it is relative to market wages.
So, Ocasio-Cortez’s US-Denmark comparison is misleading in multiple ways.
It is utterly embarrassing that “pay people enough to live” is a stance that’s even up for debate.
Override the parliamentarian and raise the wage. McD’s workers in Denmark are paid $22/hr + 6 wks paid vacation. $15/hr is a deep compromise – a big one, considering the phase in.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2021
First of all, Denmark does not have a national minimum wage.
Instead, specific industries have different wage rules set through collective bargaining with trade unions. On average Danish fast food workers do earn more than their American counterparts—approximately $27 vs $11. But Denmark is a bad example to use to push for an across-the-board hike in the national minimum wage, because Denmark does not have one.
In European Union countries that actually have a national minimum wage, it is lower than $15 an hour. For example, France’s and Germany’s minimum wages are equivalent to $11.46 and $12.42 an hour respectively.
Also, the US is much bigger and more economically diverse than any single European country. Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed $15 federal minimum wage would be much more comparable to an EU-wide minimum wage, which doesn’t exist—and for good reason.
France’s minimum monthly wage is €1554, while Poland’s is €614. If France’s minimum wage (or higher) were imposed on Poland by EU mandate, it would inflict much more unemployment on Poland (where average wages are lower) than on France.
Similar regional differences exist in the US and should not be ignored.
Bumping the average New York fast food worker to $15 an hour from the current prevailing wage of $12.68 would cause some unemployment. But it would wreak much more havoc in Mississippi, where the average fast food worker only makes $8.81 an hour.
A minimum wage almost double the average would throw many more people out of work.
Similarly, due to differences in the cost of living, $15 is a mediocre pay rate in wealthy areas and a good one in poorer ones. In an extreme example, $15 in DC is equivalent to a $68 minimum wage in Puerto Rico. It’s also easier to increase the price of burgers to cover the wage increase in New York, where your average resident makes $80K a year, than in Mississippi, where average annual earnings are $44K and where the average (not minimum) wage is $15 an hour.
Any way you look at it, businesses in New York can absorb $15 an hour much easier than businesses in Mississippi.
Finally, large and rapid increases in minimum wages are especially harmful to those with low skills or low qualifications and newcomers to the job market. EU countries with high minimum wages recognize this, and many instituted a “workaround”—a lower minimum wage for young people. For example, the minimum wage for 16-year-olds in the Netherlands is three times lower than for adults. So your typical Dutch teen working a summer job could be flipping burgers for $4 per hour, not $15.
Should politicians pursue policies that allow people to earn more?
Absolutely. However, the $15 an hour minimum wage is not that type of policy. It will ultimately increase unemployment among vulnerable groups and drive businesses to bankruptcy, especially in poorer states and economically disadvantaged areas.
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We just launched a new GiveSendGo page. We also have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
