Where Does Jeb Bradley Stand on The Minimum Wage? - Granite Grok

Where Does Jeb Bradley Stand on The Minimum Wage?

minimum wage cartoon payne

The New Hampshire Democrat Party is wondering where Republican State Senator (and likely candidate for higher office) Jeb Bradley stands on the minimum wage?  I confess, so do I.

Does State Senator Bradley embrace the left’s obsessive desire to depress employment among teens and minorities by using legislative force to define the value of labor or is he more inclined to let the person whose labor it is come to an agreement with an employer over the real value of their time and skill-set with regard to the position in which they are to be retained?

The New Hampshire Democrat position is that modern day Granite State employees and employers are simply too stupid or corrupt to be permitted to define these terms without government interference.  Is that Senator Bradley’s position as well?

Anyone with a lick of common sense knows that an artificial minimum wage forces employers to pay everyone at a rate that may exceed the value of the services provided and that this increased cost is born by the consumer in higher prices.   And like most left-wing pandering, it is an empty act more likely to punish the very people the Democrats insist it would help.

…this is a hollow populist act with a real world consequence.  It reduces opportunities for unskilled or under-skilled workers seeking or trying to retain entry level positions.  It adds to the cost of goods and services.  And it increases joblessness, which is a cost borne by taxpayers through unemployment benefits and the loss of economic activity.

The minimum wages punishes minorities.

It punishes teenagers, first time and unskilled workers.

It forces employers to either hire less, or increase prices which invariable harm lower income workers more.

And a higher minimum wage will deter business growth, scare off new business, and could even run off old ones.

An arbitrary mandated minimum wage  reduces competition for labor that naturally increases it’s value in response to real market signals.

I don’t think Senator Bradley agrees with the Democrats but if Jeb Bradley were to revisit his conservative principals on this issue he’d see that they come complete with not just an explanation for why an arbitrary government mandated wage is a ridiculously bad idea but they would also provide an opportunity to directly challenge Democrats who continue to mislead the public.

The evidence proves the conservative argument over and over again but more Republicans  needs to have the courage to stand up and make that argument.  Is Jeb Bradley one of those Republicans?

 

Looking for more?  Search “Minimum Wage” in the GraniteGrok.com search box at the top of the right column for dozens of articles on this issue.

>