Watching the establishment media has become a chore.  Case in point: a financial correspondent from one of the major cable news networks was discussing the federally mandated increase in minimum wage.  In typical shallow fashion, the talking head simply repeated one of the mantras of those that support minimum wage laws: these laws stimulate the economy.  Since those affected by minimum wage laws will be making more money, they will have more money to spend and the economy will boom.  That's good for all of us.  Yeah, right.  Minimum wage laws are nothing more than a bribe politicians use to appear to "care" and to buy votes.

There is an unseen component to minimum wage laws: they destroy jobs and/or increase prices.  According to the picture that this talking head was painting, every low wage earner will magically make more money.  It doesn't work that way.  Employers are in the business of making a profit.  Because they are forced to pay some employees more than they would otherwise, the employers must make that money up someplace else.  This can be accomplished in one of two ways or a combination of both; the employers reduce their payroll by eliminating employees (or the hours the employees work) or they raise their prices.  In either case, minimum wage laws have a destructive effect.  Although the politicians won't admit it, no additional money is created by minimum wage laws and the money that you currently have doesn't go as far as it once did.

In addition, minimum wage laws infringe on the individual's liberty.  In a free society, all individuals should be able to sell their labor to any other individual or organization on the terms to which both the parties agree.  Minimum wage laws restrict and infringe upon this most basic of social interactions.  The government is deciding for you what the terms of your contract should be.  You must work for, and employers must pay you, a wage that the government determines is fair.  Hence, even if you want to take a job at a wage you think is fair, if the government doesn't agree that the wage is high enough, you are prohibited from doing so.  If you aren't free to sell your labor at the price you set, what are you free to do?  That's the question that the media should be asking.