Sen. Boxer throws her support behind $10 minimum wage

During this year’s State of the Union Address, President Obama informed the American people that he would be seeking a $9 minimum wage sometime during his tenure in the White House. Not everyone was pleased with the number, though, and some are now calling for a $10 minimum wage.

One of these individuals is California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who told Ed Schultz on his show that a $10 hourly wage would assist in closing the gap between the working class and the affluent. In addition, an increased minimum wage would promote a healthier nation overall.

“We need to raise the minimum wage. That will make a huge difference. People are struggling,” explained the senator. “The difference between the very wealthy and the working poor has grown. We raise that minimum wage and we move forward with the vision of this president that we have, which is everyone pays their fair share.”

To implement a higher minimum wage, Boxer suggested the idea of using The Golden State as a proper model in order for it to be fair. She stated that rich individuals in California were on the fence about a higher minimum wage but now, according to Boxer, everyone is pleased.

If Boxer wanted to use California as an example then it might not have been a prudent thing to do. The state is in tremendous financial disarray, there are municipal bankruptcies and this chart shows a mass exodus – in fact analysts have to head back to the 1990s to see massive migration to California, but now tens of thousands of leaving.

Furthermore, there can be an economics case regarding minimum wage laws: the poor, uneducated and unskilled get priced out of the labor market, small businesses have to deal with higher costs and perhaps even a reduction in the number of jobs in favor of machines. Also, prices are a good indicator, moreso than empirical studies; consumers pay for the product, wages, overhead, revenues and profits.

Another quintessential would be: why not raise it to $100 per hour?