Texas Sen. Ted Cruz railed against the minimum wage as harmful to the American economy.
Cruz told CNBC that the economy has stagnated because of the “crushing taxes” and regulations that have slammed small businesses during the past seven years.
“Every time we raise the minimum wage, predictably what happens is a significant number of people lose their jobs, and they’re almost always low income, they’re often teenagers, African-Americans and Hispanics,” Cruz said. “If you jack up the minimum wages, anyone who is just starting who’s not able to produce that level of productivity loses their job.”
Cruz cited his recent visit with Charlie the Butcher in Buffalo, N.Y., who wanted to grow from seven to 20 restaurant’s but felt he could not afford the labor costs given the $15-an-hour minimum wage mandated by the state of New York.
“Would you do away with the minimum wage?” a CNBC anchor asked Cruz.
“I think the minimum wage systematically hurts the most vulnerable,” Cruz answered. “Now I think it’s within a state’s constitutional authority to have a minimum wage, so if New York wants to do that, if California wants to do that, they have the power to do it. I think it’s bad policy.”
He continued, “And one observation I make to folks, next time you go to a fast food restaurant and you start ordering on an iPad, you’re seeing the minimum wage. A teenager got fired because as you know in any business you’ve got a trade-off between capital and labor.”
The senator’s answer draws a sharp contrast with the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who argued over who could raise the federal minimum wage most during Thursday night’s presidential debate.
Cruz is on the campaign trail in New York on Friday and will appear on Fox News’ “Hannity” in primetime.
