TODD: The minimum wage, without what you would consider, you know, the equal and opposite insistence upon a minimum effort… Notice that never enters the equilibrium of the discussion? It\u2019s been… The minimum wage has been discussed forever on Rush\u2019s show, and lots of lessons about that. Rush has said many times that what the Democrats want to do is raise the minimum wage as an assault on small business.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve said as much this week. A Democrat congressman from California said, we don\u2019t want small businesses. So a Democrat, yeah, he\u2019s let that out of the bag. He\u2019s admitted it. So here\u2019s an example perfectly laid out in a See, I Told You So moment. This is over the weekend on CNN, which used to be a news America, Inside Politics. The host is Abby Phillip, and she\u2019s talking to this Democrat, Ro Khanna, Democrat from California. And she says, “Is now the right time to increase the minimum wage to 15 bucks?”<\/p>\n
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\nKHANNA: Abby, it\u2019s absolutely the right time to give working Americans a raise. But look at the facts. Amazon raised their wage to 15 nationally, not regionally. They have more jobs today. It didn\u2019t hurt job creation or business. Target followed. They also did it nationally. More jobs.<\/p>\n
PHILLIP: Well, of course large businesses like Amazon and McDonald\u2019s, for example, can and perhaps should pay more. But I\u2019m wondering, what is your plan for smaller businesses? How does this, in your view, effect mom-and-pop businesses, who are just struggling to keep their doors open, keep workers on payroll right now?<\/p>\n
KHANNA: Well, they shouldn\u2019t be doing it by paying people low wages. We don\u2019t want low-wage businesses.<\/p>\n
TODD: What? Let me translate that. We don\u2019t want starter businesses. We don\u2019t… You know who gets zero minimum wage? Business owners when they start up. I\u2019ve done it six times, not paid myself a dime — one time, for a year. Remarkable. So here\u2019s Rush. Now, this is less than a month ago, you guys.<\/p>\n
January 29th. And this is El Rushbo explaining the Democrats\u2019 true desire is to attack these small businesses, like, you know, Amazon and Target, they didn\u2019t get locked down. Right? Rush said that they want to eliminate them because the truth is that the Democrats have become the party of Big Business.<\/p>\n
RUSH: A question, ladies and gentlemen. How many millions of jobs will be lost if the Democrats raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour? The national, a federal minimum wage. Not state. Not neighborhood. Not city. Not local. Federal minimum wage. Because back on Tuesday, the Democrats introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage nationally to $15 an hour over five years.<\/p>\n
It would more than double the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. It\u2019s called the Raise the Wage Act. Oh, it\u2019s so simple. “Rage the Ways Act.” It would increase pay from $9.50 an hour in 2021 to $11 in 2022, and in 2023 it would rise to $12.50 an hour. It would hit 14 bucks an hour in \u201924.<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t be until 2025 that it hits 15 bucks an hour. Do you know how many jobs would be lost? This is guaranteed to be true, by the way. This is not speculation. It\u2019s not conservative theory. We have enough data with the imposition of the minimum wage in various states and cities, various local levels. We know what happens with the implementation of a minimum wage.<\/p>\n
The number of jobs that will be lost would be at least 1.3 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Which means that members of Congress are okay with it! They\u2019re gonna move ahead with the legislation anyway, even though their own budget office says you\u2019re gonna cost the country 1.3 million jobs. The truth is it\u2019s gonna be higher than that.<\/p>\n
Most economists who are not socialists think the number will be much higher. Now, I have attempted over the 30 years of this program to explain the minimum wage and why it\u2019s a bogus proposition countless times, and I\u2019m going to do it again. I have found over the course of my hosting the program that the minimum wage is something that a lot of people are just sympathetic to, the way it\u2019s presented to them.<\/p>\n
“Well, you can\u2019t feed a family of four on $15 an hour! (sputtering)” Well, why isn\u2019t it higher than that? This is the question I always ask. What is the minimum wage? The minimum wage is an arbitrary amount of money that business owners, the majority of whom are small business owners, will be required by federal law that they have to pay, whether the people they hire are worth it or not.<\/p>\n
The reason the minimum wage costs jobs is because if the business — small business — currently is paying people entry-level at eight bucks an hour, and all of a sudden they\u2019re told they have to pay \u2019em 10, well, they don\u2019t have the money laying around in a vault that they\u2019re not using. But a lot of people think that if you are a business, that you\u2019re a millionaire.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/APP-120820-COVID-Store-Closed.jpg\")
(sniveling) “If you\u2019re a business, you\u2019ve got all kinds of money that you\u2019re not spending. You\u2019re hoarding it, and you\u2019re keeping it for yourself rather than giving it to other people and your employees because you\u2019re a cheat, because you\u2019re selfish.” Such is the damage to the image and reputation of businesspeople that the left has succeeded in creating.<\/p>\n
So what has to happen in the real world? Business owners have to let employees go, they have to fire them, because they don\u2019t have an endless pile of money that they could be paying people with but aren\u2019t. Most small businesses have very small margins. They\u2019re not just barely getting by, but it\u2019s not… They\u2019re not a bunch of hedge funders. Let\u2019s put it this way.<\/p>\n
But the real problem is it\u2019s an arbitrary number that is mandated on them. It has no relationship to the business that they\u2019re in. It has no relationship to their profit and loss. It has no relationship whatsoever to the business they\u2019re in, what the costs of doing business are, what the current profit margins are. They just slap on an arbitrary figure that has nothing to do with market conditions.<\/p>\n
And the arbitrary figure is one that is created by politicians that they can get behind as compassionate and understanding and they care about people. People end up losing their jobs because of the minimum wage. It\u2019s much easier to trim your workforce than it is to go out and somehow make people more productive — and making people more productive is how you end up being able to pay them more.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s your business growing!<\/p>\n
But the arbitrary minimum wage is a direct assault on small business growth, which is the primary bottom line to why it\u2019s just a guaranteed failure. It\u2019s been tried. It\u2019s been proven over and over again. It doesn\u2019t matter. This is the Democrats using their power when they have it, and the purpose of this is to create failures in small businesses, to run them out of business, to make sure that they have all kinds of trouble making their ends meet.<\/p>\n
You might ask, “Well, why would anybody want to do that?” Because it will turn them into dependents on the government, folks. It always circles back to that. In addition, the nationalization of a $15 an hour minimum wage — which, again, will not hit until 2025. If $15 an hour is what\u2019s needed, why not do it this year? Why have to wait \u2019til 2025? And if $15 an hour is good, why not $20?<\/p>\n
You know, try an experiment with somebody. This always works. Talk to somebody who\u2019s in favor of the minimum wage. You won\u2019t have any trouble finding people. They\u2019ve been brainwashed on this for a number of years. And keep asking them, “Okay, well, if 15 bucks an hour is good, why not 20?” And they\u2019ll agree with you. “Oh, yeah, I could go for that,” and just keep bumping it up.<\/p>\n
“Okay, you like $20. What about $25 an hour?” and they\u2019ll agree with you. At some point when you keep bumping up the number, you\u2019ll reach a number where they will say, “No, no, no, no, no. We can\u2019t do that.” It may be 35 an hour, it may be 25, it may be whatever. But you\u2019ll reach a point where the person you\u2019re talking to who loves the minimum wage will tell you, “No, no, no, that\u2019s too much.”<\/p>\n
At that point, you pounce, and you say, “Why? Why is 35 too much when 30 isn\u2019t? Why is $35 too much when $25 isn\u2019t?” and they will not have an answer for you. Some will, actually, and the answer they have will make your point. “Well, I mean that\u2019s just too much to mandate that somebody be paid for that before you know whether they\u2019re worth.”<\/p>\n
A-ha!<\/p>\n
“Well, why did it take $35 to get you to realize that? Why didn\u2019t you realize that at $25? Why didn\u2019t you realize that at $15 or $20?” The point is, you\u2019re not really arguing with them about a specific number. The reason you\u2019re doing this exercise is to get them to finally react at whatever number, that it\u2019s not right to put that kind of a burden on businesses.<\/p>\n
At that point, you\u2019ve won the argument. Here\u2019s what else it does, though. It destroys youth and minority employment, because the minimum wage is not designed to support a family of four. (chuckling) There is no way. It never has been. It\u2019s entry-level. It\u2019s designed to pay people that don\u2019t have any experience doing the job. What it does, is it wipes out entry-level jobs, and that\u2019s what people that have never done work before need.<\/p>\n
They need entry-level jobs to learn how to survive in the work culture. They need to learn how to show up and to show up on time. They need to learn how to follow directions. They need to learn how to engage in productive behavior. They need to learn the satisfaction of doing a job well.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the whole point of entry-level work is. Entry-level work is not designed to support a family. You weren\u2019t ready to support a family when you were 16 or 17. You left home; you wanted to go get a job. You weren\u2019t capable of it. You had to learn the work culture. That\u2019s what entry-level work is all about.<\/p>\n
But of course, wiping out entry-level positions, destroying minority employment? That\u2019s kind of the plan, isn\u2019t it? It just forces businesses to move to automation. That\u2019s what\u2019s gonna happen. Businesses are eventually gonna say, “You know what? I can\u2019t deal with this hassle. I can\u2019t deal with you people telling me how much I have to pay people when you don\u2019t even know what the work is.<\/p>\n
“You don\u2019t even understand what I do in my business, and I\u2019m not gonna put up with that. I\u2019m gonna try to automate as much of this work as I can.” Andrew Yang, of all people, has laid this all out. They want to destroy jobs. Why would they want to do that? “That\u2019s a tough thing to say, Rush.” No, it\u2019s not. They want to destroy jobs by replacing as many as they can with automation. Why?<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s how Andrew Yang believes that he can get his universal basic income of a thousand dollars a month passed into the law. When people do not have any job, when they don\u2019t have work to do, when they don\u2019t have a job to go to, they still need money. They still need food. They still need to pay the bills.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
“Hey, I got an idea. How about a guaranteed universal income, $1,000 a mont — universal, basic income.” Not to mention this will wipe out a lot of restaurants who managed to make it through 2020 still alive. And they\u2019re gonna raise taxes in the midst of this? They\u2019re a gonna raise taxes while they are raising the minimum wage? I don\u2019t know, folks.<\/p>\n
TODD: That\u2019s our friend, Rush, taking the complex, not just making it understandable, but giving us hints on how we can help our fence-leaning friends understand it.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
TODD: Let\u2019s talk to Doug in Cleveland, Ohio. Doug, you\u2019re on the Rush Limbaugh program. It\u2019s Todd Herman on the EIB Network. Hi, Doug.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hey, Todd, how you doing?<\/p>\n
TODD: Doing great.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hey, I wanted to piggyback to Rush\u2019s comment about minimum wage. So now we\u2019re gonna start paying people that work at Wendy\u2019s $15 an hour.<\/p>\n
TODD: Yeah.<\/p>\n
CALLER: I own my own business. I do photography for real estate. Now, what do I have to pay my employees so that they don\u2019t go work at McDonald\u2019s — you know, at fast food. Do I have to pay them $25 an hour? Now it drives the price of what I have to pay up. It also drives the price of hamburgers up. And now what happens to me is I can\u2019t hire somebody at $25 an hour starting.<\/p>\n
They might get there, but the point being is, now I have to be something above that. So what is it…? What do you pay the person that works at the bank that takes care of my money? Do you pay \u2019em $22 an hour now? Do you pay the mechanic $35 or $50 an hour? ‘Cause everything else has to be up accordingly, otherwise I\u2019m not gonna use my brain for anything.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m never gonna excel, and I\u2019m gonna sit there and I\u2019m going to flip burgers for $15 an hour instead of actually, you know, doing something positive, more positive than working at minimum wage. It just doesn\u2019t make any sense because it effects everyone. It affects the bank.<\/p>\n
TODD: Yeah.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/DemocratPlaybook101RaiseMinimumWage.jpg\")
CALLER: It affects the photographer. It affects, you know, people that work in radio. It affects every person, every business.<\/p>\n
TODD: Yeah.<\/p>\n
CALLER: And business does not take — and if they want to — a 50% margin. They don\u2019t. They add 50% to that. It doesn\u2019t go up just 50 cents. It doesn\u2019t go up just a little bit.<\/p>\n
TODD: Right. What you\u2019re saying —<\/p>\n
CALLER: It goes up two- or threefold.<\/p>\n
TODD: No, but Doug let me expand what you\u2019re saying, I just want to make sure I understand this. Because there are people who don\u2019t work with margins. They hear “margin,” and they don\u2019t understand that piece is the part the business owner gets to keep; right? I once had a relative of mine who is a truly brilliant woman. You can\u2019t say she\u2019s not. She\u2019s got, you know, a couple of Ph.D.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s a joy to talk to and debate with, and she once asked me, “Why do businesses even need to earn a profit?” and I was dumbfounded. I thought, “Well, that\u2019s what the business owner keeps.” But then she\u2019s saying, “But why so much?” “Well, why would I risk my capital?” This is what people who don\u2019t start businesses don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n
We put our capital at risk, our sweat at risk, and we gamble on it. So when we take on an employee, we\u2019re gambling on them, and your explanation of the person cooking hamburgers… By the way, that\u2019s an honorable job. Never look past that. Any legal work is honorable work, and please be proud of it. Please, I beg you, to be proud of the paycheck you earn, if you earn it and it\u2019s legal.<\/p>\n
I beg you to be proud of it. And you gave a great explanation. And it\u2019s almost, although we don\u2019t get to the level of the Maha, it\u2019s very Rushian. It\u2019s just taking this complex thing and saying, “We\u2019re going to make everybody more expensive.” Right? I appreciate that phone call, Doug. That\u2019s perfect. That\u2019s a perfect way to put it, and if more people would think of it this way as Doug from Cleveland did.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s a photographer. There\u2019s people who deliver him from a place film or cameras, people who work on his cameras, those people who work on cameras or photography gear, they\u2019re skilled. But someone below that is inserting screws into the stands for the lighting, and someone below that is assembling the boxes that the stands go in if they\u2019re gonna be sold, right?<\/p>\n
They need to be in boxes. Someone is pumping gas into the car, if you\u2019re in a state like Oregon where you\u2019re forced to use full-service gas. Someone\u2019s doing that. At every single level these costs go up, and to the point that Doug made about making people too expensive, so he has to pay people more, except for automation.<\/p>\n
I tell you the truth when I tell you that Big Tech — who so benefited from the selective, medically useless, deadly, politically motivated lockdowns. They pay people money to create mathematical models on when your job is over and when their software takes over your job. They have the number nailed, and they know exactly what it\u2019s gonna be, and it might be a $15-per-hour federal minimum wage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Todd Herman in for Rush Limbaugh on the EIB Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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