I can't be the only one here that was in the workforce the last time the federal minimum wage was raised, in 2009. It's not all that long ago. And I assume the majority of posters here are in their late 20s-30s. I'm going over my notes here and it just doesn't appear that the world ended because of that. In fact and lived experience, it was probably a big help in the economic recovery after the abject failure of corporate welfare of the Bush years. And an increase to $15 will probably help the US economy (the one that includes the entire population, not just the rich getting even richer) recover from Trump and covid.
So, our own lived experiences show that the right-wing talking points are dumb bullshit. Another thing is the old Henry Ford adage. If more people have more money, you're going to sell more of your product, not less.
The only thing that happens at Walmart if they increase the minimum wage is that they pay workers more fairly. No matter what the minimum wage is, Walmart will continue to aggressively move towards automation that would wipe most of their workers out. The minimum wage being low is just saving them money on the way there and their workers are justifying their own wage slavery because they don't understand how economics work. The people who run Walmart are trying to take everyone's fucking job and their workers just let them get away with it, and argue against their own damn selves getting paid more because of how scared they are. It's wild.
California has been incrementally increasing their minimum wage for the last few years, and before the pandemic these following things were all true.
California was the state with the least minimum wage workers.
Restaurants are forced to pay minimum wage in addition to tip.
Unemployment continued to go down to as low as 3.9%.
But how could this all happen when the Republicans have fed bullshit talking points for forty years about minimum wage raises killing the economy?
A.) An increase in the minimum wage gives people money to actually buy shit.
B.) People leave that second job they no longer need, or they take less hours at that second job (this isn't something the government should be proud of), because they have more money to do shit.
C.) Because people leave that second job, someone else has to get hired to take their spot...which leads to the unemployment rate going down.
D.) Because of that low unemployment rate, this might shock you, but...people here get paid more than the increased minimum wage. As I said when I posted that California had the least minimum wage workers by percentage in the country. Employers have to offer more competitive wages in order to lure employees.
That guy who says they're going to make cuts, is going to wind up adding 50 cents to their burgers or whatever, but more people will have money to buy them first of all, and secondly while they might panic and fire someone, they'll have to fill that job and/or bring them back because more people will be able to buy their shit. And in addition to that, the fired employee will have an easier time finding work and potentially getting paid more than the minimum wage because of those things I just laid out. I should also note that California was an untested, unprojected experiment that turned out this way. Because sometimes it turns out that the economy gets stimulated when people get fucking money for working their job. Before the pandemic, there was literally zero evidence that these wage hikes were hurting companies. Absolutely none at all. There were a few places that made a big fuss about closing due to wage hikes, but the restaurant business was booming here because people had money to eat and weren't scraping ramen off the shelves even though they work all the time. Crazy I know, but perhaps one day you too won't live in a shithole.
Corporate America has just gotten away with telling all these lies to people and there are so many out there that refuse to question their actions, for what reason I honestly don't even know at this point. They tell people they'll lose jobs under all kinds of scenarios but at no point do they ever try to do good by their workers, and y'all still eat their shit happily with a smile. Their profits skyrocket while they run people into the ground, and I guess we should never try to do anything about that. I should also point out that when Walmart cuts jobs in the name of becoming more automated, their profits are probably going to crater. I quit going there after the last time I couldn't find anyone to help me out. Last year, prior to the situation getting to be a way where they were one of the only places open for months on end, their operating income in the US was far lower than expected. So it ain't just me who don't want to go in there.