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When big biz types try to scare us with the specter of higher prices due to them having to pay more, it flies directly in the face of history and completely contradicts their "free market" philosophies.
The price of a good or service is driven mostly by what people are willing to pay for it. If you raise your prices in response to a higher minimum wage, and people are unwilling to pay the higher price, you will lower it. You may see the cost of your pizza going back down if people refuse to (or can't) pay the higher price for it. The great news is that whenever the minimum wage goes up, all wages tend to go up. That means that more people in your community will be able to treat themselves to a pizza and the pizza shop will profit from it. Recently, my state passed a minimum wage initiative. Thousands of small business owners actually signed on in support of it. Most of them were already paying well over the federal minimum wage anyway. The opposition was funded by (surprise surprise) big corporations.
Conversely, isn't it funny how lower wages (be they due to outsourcing or "illegal insourcing") rarely correspond to lower prices? Thom Hartmann always points to the example of Nike shoes. Nike used to do its manufacturing in the U.S. and their shoes were considerably more expensive than competitors. Now they make their shoes overseas, for a fraction of the labor cost. But most of their shoes still cost over $100 retail. Where did that money go, since they sure didn't pass the savings along to us consumers?
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