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The Truth about Minimum Wage A federal minimum wage has been around since 1938; starting out as a way to set wage precedents for workers, minimum wage has grown and changed in accordance with growing inflation for the past 76 years. Although a federal minimum wage allows workers to have a minimum amount of income that is necessary to survive and pay the bills, and it forces businesses to share some of the vast wealth with the people who help produce it, federal minimum wage costs the economy thousands of jobs and makes little sense due to cost-of-living differences throughout the country. People tend to believe a federal mandated minimum wage helps the poor, and counteracts poverty. Darius Ross, of the Rockland County Times, believes that “raising the minimum wage will put more money in the pockets of workers who most need to spend those dollars. It will boost consumer spending at local businesses across the state. And nothing drives business owners like me to hire additional workers more than increased consumer demand”. While Ross makes a good point that raising the minimum wage will add to the disposable income of certain people, he does not mention what this raise will actually do. Minimum wage sets a price floor. A price floor, simply stated, is a price limit placed on businesses telling them they cannot offer the good or service being sold below a certain price. A price floor creates shortages, and in the case of minimum wage, that shortage is jobs and the result is an increase in unemployment. Some economists argue federal minimum wage forces businesses to share some of the vast wealth with the people who help produce it. Businesses can exploit their workers by paying them “off the books” to avoid minimum wage, and taxes. Ag... ... middle of paper ... ...b. 08 Dec. 2013. Levine, Ben. The Times Delphic. N.p., 09 Dec. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Madison, Lucy. "Joe Miller: There Should Be No Federal Minimum Wage." CBSNews, 4 Oct. 2010. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Ozimek, Adam. "Why Conservatives Should Support the Minimum Wage." Forbes Magazine, 25 July 2012. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Ross, Darius. February 7th, 2013." THE PROS AND CONS TO UPPING MINIMUM WAGE. N.p., 07 Feb. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Staff, NPR. "Should We Abolish The Minimum Wage?" NPR, 09 Apr. 2013. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Dunkelberg, William. "Why Raising the Minimum Wage Kills Jobs." Forbes Magazine, 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 08 Dec. 2013. "Why We Should Not Raise the Minimum Wage." The Future of Freedom Foundation, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Foster, David. "Increasing the Minimum Wage: What You Need to Know." Web log post. Hubze Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Jan. 2014.

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