Nevada Democrats and the minimum wage

So top Dems want to raise the minimum wage (“Top Dems talk guns, wage hike at debate,” Tuesday Review-Journal). Don’t they understand economics? Does Chris Giunchigliani have a magic wand to generate funds for a $15-an-hour wage? Businesses don’t have extra money sitting around. They would have to raise their prices.

In fast-food restaurants, wages are one-third to half of the cost of your meal, so the price of your burger goes up quite a bit. Other people then demand higher wages so they can afford the new prices. Their employers have to raise their prices. Studies show that over a period of about two years, everybody’s prices have gone up so much that the buying power of the minimum wage hike has been wiped out.

In the meantime, the higher labor costs make the cost of automation more attractive and will cause some businesses to fail — so some of those minimum-wage jobs will go away. Because sales taxes are figured on the price, your taxes go up, too, providing more revenue for the government to spend.

Hmm. Maybe that’s the real reason the Dems are pushing this.