Ignoring economic reality, Senate Democrats rally for $15 minimum wage

While the big push has little chance of becoming law while Republicans control the White House, the rally gives Senate Democrats a chance to score populist points with their base. An hour away in Baltimore, Democratic Mayor Catherine Pugh hasn’t enjoyed that opportunity.

Unlike her Senate colleagues, Pugh looked at the numbers and pulled off perhaps the most principled flip-flop in history. Last month she vetoed a city ordinance increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, legislation she promised to support while campaigning.

Pugh has come under extraordinary pressure for the reversal. “I want people to earn better wages,” she told the Wall Street Journal shortly afterward. “But I also want my city to survive.” No doubt, her city will benefit for the difficult decision.

Perhaps Democrats’ refusal to learn the same lesson should inspire a March for Economics. Simply put, when government arbitrarily boosts the minimum wage, businesses must shoulder increased labor cost. Often that means cutting hours, automating services, and sometimes shutting down altogether. Consumers also pay more at the cash register.

State minimum wage hikes explain, in large part, why your kids can’t find summer jobs, a robot takes your fast food order, and the mom-and-pop shops you once frequented have closed their doors.

Unafraid or oblivious, New York and California have already thrown that fact to the wind and with obvious consequences. A new study by the American Action Forum argues that by increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour those states will soon lose 65,000 and 109,000 jobs respectively.

That hasn’t stopped Sanders and company from making the push on the national stage. Because there’s no chance of increasing the minimum wage, they freely politic on the issue. Meanwhile Pugh and other mayors must confront the economic reality and act in their citizens’ best interest.

Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.