Mark at Tempus Fugit writes about the minimum wage hike that was passed by the House of Representatives:

The main result of the minimum wage hike will be an increase in the unemployment of unskilled workers (i.e. the people who used to be making $5.15-$7.25). These jumps in unemployment have always followed an increase in the Federal minimum wage. The people the minimum wage is supposed to help are the ones who get disproportionately screwed by it. That’s some [expletive deleted] up idea of social justice.

Try this on for size: $5.15 is better than $0. With me so far? Now this: $3 is better than zero. Any amount greater than zero is better than zero. Here’s my idea of social justice: pay people what they are worth. No more, no less.

Other than the fact that I’d clarify that the amount of money that a job is worth is not by any means a measure of how much the person doing the job is worth, I agree completely.

Minimum wage is a funny political issue, and it’s the sort of thing that causes people around here to claim that Democrats are the party that looks out for the “little guy”. Politics is mostly about sound bites, and “Pay workers more money” makes for a great sound bite, especially if you don’t consider too carefully that someone has to pay for the increased wages, whether it’s the end consumer or the former co-workers of the minimum wage employee who is now making more money. This works out especially well for the Democrats, because when the new numbers showing increased unemployment come out, they can point at President Bush and the Republicans and claim that they caused this mess. Who will question them? After half a decade of hearing President Bush blamed for the unemployment rate, why would anyone believe that it’s not his fault?