BERNIE SANDERS: HIS INITIALS SAY IT ALL

If there ever was a person whose initials signify the essence of the man, it would be Bernie Sanders.  When Bernie scrawls his initials, BS, those who are familiar with his work, know these very letters embody the true Bernie. For years now, Bernie has infamously gaslighted the public about policy, whether bellowing about universal health care, the need for higher taxes and government spending on social programs or now, the existential crisis caused by climate change.  In a recent editorial titled, “the two Americas,” Bernie in true Marxist form writes how America is divided into two countries, one for the billionaires, those whose task in life is to oppress the common folk, and the common folk whose task is to be oppressed. One of Bernie's major issues to solve, in his view, is the “problem” of income inequality, and one constant solution he shrieks is to raise the minimum wage to $17 an hour. The current US minimum wage is $7.25 but numerous states have passed minimum wage laws which are well above this amount.  Bernie’s ambitious proposal would put the US minimum wage level above all states, meaning the states must conform to this policy.  Now Bernie’s proposal may sound great as a rhetorical device but in actual policy, it is like all his proposals, an unmitigated disaster.  The US economy is currently transitioning from a period of government created inflation on account of higher energy prices, increased regulatory and labor costs but Bernie appears to have not learned anything from governmental interference.  An increase in the minimum wage to $17 will not only result in an inflation driven wage gain for all of those who were below this amount but it will cause those who were between $7.25 and $17 to ask for an increase above the new minimum.  For example, if the minimum wage in a state such as Nevada is $12 and I as a wage earner in that state am making $15, once the minimum wage is raised to $17, I will want to make above $17 because I previously made more than the minimum wage.  Bernie’s proposal will then have a boomerang effect throughout the economy with all workers asking for an enhancement.  This will swell the basic cost of doing business and not surprisingly businesses will then pass along this surge in costs in the form of enhanced prices to the consumer fuelling another round of inflation.  This upward spiral in prices in turn will pressure workers to ask for a new round of wage hikes to keep up with the stifling  effects of inflation.  Now if Bernie had a basic understanding of what he was talking about he would realize that real market driven wage increases are a byproduct of improvements in worker productivity which is a more efficient use of the resources.  Real increases in productivity will cause wages to rise faster than prices leading to actual gains in income and standards of living.  Bernie’s plan to artificially increase wages only increases the costs of doing business which in reality lowers the standard of living and will actually have the reverse effect of increasing the chasm between rich and poor.  In addition, by increasing the costs of doing business, enterprises will have to figure out a way to reduce costs and the one most associated with an increase in the minimum wage is to reduce the number of workers needed.  So a byproduct of a hike in the minimum wage is a spike in unemployment.  How this is a solution to the problem proposed by Bernie is beyond rational people.  But with Bernie and his ilk, the issue is not solving problems but driving people to blame their lot in life on others.