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>
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/15774825.htm
>
> Posted on Tue, Oct. 17, 2006
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> Economists' call for higher wage challenges candidate's reasoning
> Michele Bachmann, candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 6th District,
> has never pretended to economic acumen. However, on Oct. 11 her
> extreme
> positions on various issues of social policy, such as gay marriage,
> were outdone by her espoused position on the minimum wage. On that
> day,
> more than 650 economists, including five Nobel Prize winners, called
> for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 from $5.15, where
> it has stayed since 1997. The earning power of the wage at this level,
> according to the economists, is "fully eroded." They went on: "We
> believe that a modest increase in the minimum wage would improve the
> well-being of low-wage workers and would not have the adverse effects
> that critics have claimed."
It is worth noting here that there is certainly disgreement among
professional economists on this issue, with credible and respectable
representatives on both sides.
http://www.swlearning.com/economics/policy_debates/increase_minimum.html
There's a nice sampler of the debate. Especially note the conclusion of
research in California that real harm was done to the working poor by
the 1996 raise. Unfortunately, this is too clouded an issue for
clear-cut answers. Bachmann's position may well be too close to "let
them eat cake", but minimum wage may also be too much of bread and
circuses. It is politically inexpedient to oppose minimum wage
increases, regardless that the majority of the population doesn't even
understand the economic issues involved well enough to be entitled to an
opinion.
It's not even clear whether those five Nobel Prize winners have
sufficient information to be entitled to an opinion, though I certainly
credit that they're acting in good faith. Minimum wage, as an issue, is
far more a political than an economic one. I'd like to see a good
cross-discipline study by a team with political scientists, economists,
sociologists, and historians.
In short, while Bachmann's attitude is unforgiveably cavalier and 18th
century, enlightened and honest disagreement over minimum wage laws is
certainly alive and well.
