The rest of the world thought that Andrew Cuomo’s political career was over when he resigned in disgrace after ten years as governor of New York over allegations of sexual harassment. This is New York we’re talking about, however, and so Cuomo is now running for mayor of New York City, and he knows his constituency: Cuomo has clearly decided that a winning strategy in the City That Never Sleeps is to position himself slightly to the left of Uncle Joe Stalin.
Cuomo is doing that by pledging to raise the minimum wage in New York City to a cool $20 an hour. He explained his plan with such limpid clarity and simplicity that at least some of his hearers must have been wondering why nobody ever thought of this before and left this golden campaign issue to the wily Cuomo. “The best way to combat affordability,” the former governor explained, “the best way is to raise wages. Put more money in people’s pockets.”
Wow. It’s that easy? Just think of how many economic downturns, recessions, and depressions could have been ended in the twinkling of an eye if presidents throughout the history of this republic had had access to Cuomo’s wisdom. People are poor? Wave your scepter and raise wages! Suddenly, everyone will have plenty of money, and the economy will hum along to prosperity for all!
In reality, however, it doesn’t work that way. In fact, minimum wage hikes — and the very concept of a minimum wage in itself — are among the cruelest and most damaging of the many tricks and deceptions that leftists use to gain support.
Raising the minimum wage seems to be an act of looking out for the little guy. Minimum wage laws are supposed to ensure that the greedy top-hatted capitalists of leftist myth are forced not to keep all the profits for themselves, but to ensure a decent living for those whose labor they’re exploiting. Socialist politicians such as Cuomo, however, never tell voters about the downside.
Business owners large and small don’t generally take minimum wage hikes as a cue to tighten their belts and make sacrifices. Maybe in a perfect world they would, but this is not a perfect world. Instead of absorbing the increased costs themselves, they pass them on to the consumer in the form of price increases, or they lay off a few workers and make the ones who are still employed work harder for almost the same money. Minimum wage laws thus increase both prices and unemployment. Under the guise of giving ordinary workers a fair shake, they make life more difficult for them.
And so what Andrew Cuomo is promising to do is make New York City even more unlivable than it is now for everyone except the very rich, who don’t care about price increases. They don’t suffer the effects of unemployment, either, as they’re unlikely to be the ones who lose their jobs. This is the epitome of socialist rule: The elites make laws that the common folk have to obey, or else, while the elites themselves luxuriate at their sumptuous villas, exempt from all the burdens they have placed upon those who make it possible for them to live in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
That’s Andrew Cuomo’s vision for New York, which he is presenting as something that he thinks will get him votes, and this being New York City we’re talking about, he is probably right.
Hey, Andrew, here’s something you could do to get even more votes: Why not raise the minimum wage to a million dollars an hour? That’s right — make everybody in New York City a millionaire! The greatest city in the world deserves the wealthiest population in the world, right?
Related: Money Is Pouring Out of the Treasury — But Who Is Receiving It?
If Cuomo has an ounce of sense, which is, of course, highly debatable, he would answer that such a measure would place an intolerable burden on the city’s businesses, driving most or all of them out of the city altogether and leading Gotham to economic ruin. Right, Andy! Now, how is your $20 minimum wage any different? Prices will skyrocket all over the city, unemployment will go through the roof, and you’ll have made the city a less hospitable place for businesses, which, after all, provide jobs for people.
So apparently, Andrew Cuomo wants to destroy New York City. And in New York City today, that could well turn out to be a winning electoral formula.
The establishment media will never tell you what's wrong with a minimum wage. You have to go to a real journalistic source for that. Become a PJ Media VIP member today, and you'll get unfettered access to all of our incisive analysis. Use code FIGHT for 60% off!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member