# Asking middle class (and lower) Dopers why they vote Republican. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 12, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402 "2010-11-12T06:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/141 "2010-11-16T19:38:41Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Then all we need do is increase the minimum wage to $100 an hour, and solve all our economic problems at a stroke. Create a lot of jobs, and pump billions of dollars into the economy. > > Sounds like a win-win to me. > > Regards, > Shodan Hope no middle got excluded there. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/142 "2010-11-16T22:11:07Z")
Just typical SHODAN logic. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/143 "2010-11-16T22:14:56Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > More importantly, they argue about whether minimum wages create jobs (people earning more money creates demand for goods that drives job growth). Given the strong evidence that minimum wage increases can create jobs, seems like we can have the best of both worlds. Cite on this? Most of the NBER working papers I have perused on the minimum wage show minimal impact, except in the service arena. Most entry-level jobs pay more than the minimum wage. One interesting piece did show that if you raise the wage, you run the risk of more over qualified individuals taking the lower level jobs now that you have hit their reservation price. This in turn knocks out some lesser skilled individuals from the jobs they would have received at the lower wage rate. I have not seen an article showing that raising the minimum wage actually CREATES jobs - usually it is fight to see how many jobs might have been destroyed instead due to the basic shift of P on the curve. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/144 "2010-11-17T00:57:09Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > But, just because in your one singular data point you were able to find a career which is a net positive for you means that everybody else can too if they just look hard enough? And if they can’t find it it’s all their fault, and we can wash our hands of, as both you and **Maule Man** have repeatedly stated, of any sort of responsibility on the part of employers to ensure that such openings are available for every single American who wants them? It doesn’t mean anything of the sort. I started off by merely responding to your initial question: _“An attempt at a serious question (tho it likely will either be ignored, or assumed to be “leftist claptrap”, as has already happened to me in this thread): why is government “meddling” so odious, but private enterprise meddling in your lives is something to be proud of?”_ I then expanded on my answer when you expanded on your question: _“You check Company A, but find that they’ve sold most of their decent-paying jobs overseas-nothing there. Likewise you check out Companies B, C & D-nope, nothing there too. Meanwhile you read about the huge severance bonuses that several high-ranking officials in these companies have gotten, money that could have been used to pay your salary, if they had so chosen. The businesses in question have managed to control your life in a way no less pernicious than government might have-do you acknowledge this at this point, or continue pointing fingers at Washington and blaming them 100% for this state of affairs?”_ In response to _ **that** _ sort of reasoning, I wanted to emphasize that I don’t see what such businesses do as Meddling In My Life or Controlling My Life or whatever; like you, they’re just making offers I can accept or reject – and I don’t see that I should blame either you or them for making any such offers. Now, since you’d offered up that hypothetical, I decided to then add in a hypothetical in which a potential employer makes a _ **good** _ offer – with the added wrinkle that, as it happens, that hypothetical is my actual situation. But that’s, like, _ **secondary,** _ y’know? Flip it around, if you prefer; imagine for a second that I kicked things off with a rosy hypothetical about potential employers making desirable offers, and you replied by asking us to simultaneously consider a hypothetical where no companies want to hire you – and added that, as it happens, no one does. I wasn’t trying to piggyback an anecdote into data; I just wanted to balance a hypothetical with a hypothetical, and used the anecdote to do it, is all. > [@](#): > > Then who is left to flip the burgers, dig the ditches, mop the floors, and do all those other menial, inherently low-paying yet necessary tasks that our society depends on? If “our society depends on” those “necessary tasks”, then we should pay accordingly. That said, Algher largely beat me to it on this one; plenty of teens flip burgers and mop floors and dig ditches before moving on to other stuff; at the risk of incurring your wrath via anecdote, I’ll quickly mention that I likewise did that stuff in my youth. > [@](#): > > In answer to your earlier idea, yes, I DO think business owes us-it owes us a great deal. The profit motive is a horrible thing on which to run a society; I’m sure you are aware of what the Tragedy of the Commons is? Must compassion, love, honor and other such unrealistic ideals be tossed by the wayside? Even if you still don’t think such things need to be considerations in any financial transaction, do you at least agree about the terrible hidden costs (which will come due down the road, sooner or later) every time two parties sign a deal to drain a wetland, pollute a river, cut down a forest, or build a C02 spewing plant, and that such costs must, if both parties were perfectly rational, must be part of any deal? Dang it, Algher largely beat me to it on this one as well. Still, though, I take some issue with the way you phrase it: “the profit motive is a horrible thing on which to run a society,” you say. I prefer to enshrine _ **consent,** _ such that folks can dedicate themselves to whatever ideal they prize. I want you to be free to pursue your goal whether you’re motivated by profit _ **or** _ compassion, so long as you do so by engaging in voluntary transactions. At the very least, I want to shift the language from Social Darwinism to Enlightened Self-Interest – but I’d like to get past that to really concentrate on, um, The Moral Magic Of Consent, or something. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/145 "2010-11-17T02:16:02Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > Cite on this? If you have to ask, then you know nothing about the minimum wage literature. Every economist who studies the impact of minimum wages, and who was still alive in 1994, is familiar with the Card-Krueger series of papers. I suggest that if you are interested in an informed discussion of the impact of minimum wages, you become familiar with these papers also. ETA: Read [this](http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp178/)summary. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/146 "2010-11-17T04:10:11Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > If you have to ask, then you know nothing about the minimum wage literature. > > Every economist who studies the impact of minimum wages, and who was still alive in 1994, is familiar with the Card-Krueger series of papers. I suggest that if you are interested in an informed discussion of the impact of minimum wages, you become familiar with these papers also. > > ETA: Read [this](http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp178/)summary. If you have to snark in response to an honest request for data, you hurt your own argument and come across as a pretentious asshole. Thanks, however, for the cite - regardless of how offered. I last formally studied economics back before Card and Krueger did their work, so I was actually interested in the literature - hence my request. I suggest that if you are interested in an informed discussion of anything, you take your attitude and tone it down a notch in this forum and save the attitude for the pit. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/147 "2010-11-17T05:28:21Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > If you have to snark in response to an honest request for data, you hurt your own argument and come across as a pretentious asshole. > > Thanks, however, for the cite - regardless of how offered. I last formally studied economics back before Card and Krueger did their work, so I was actually interested in the literature - hence my request. > > I suggest that if you are interested in an informed discussion of anything, you take your attitude and tone it down a notch in this forum and save the attitude for the pit. I apologize for the snark. I do, however, note what an amazing coincidence it is that so many conservatives who claim to be interested in economics all managed to stop reading the minimum wage literature just about 20 years ago. If they were just a \*leeeeetlle \*more current in their reading they might run into something that would contradict their worldview. Should we update the chapter on minimum wages in the “Basic Economics” textbook that they all seem to have read? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/148 "2010-11-17T13:34:25Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > ETA: Read [this](http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp178/)summary. That is an interesting summary, especially in light of your claim that there was “strong evidence that minimum wage increases can create jobs”. > [@The article in question](#): > > Looking at the three studies as a whole, the minimum wage increase in New Jersey \*\*appears to have had no effect on employment. \*\*Setting aside either the highly questionable data collected by EmPI, or the single outlier Pennsylvania franchisee, even the Neumark and Wascher study finds no **statistically significant result.** After reviewing Card and Krueger’s final study, Neumark and Wascher stated that they can only decisively conclude that “ **New Jersey’s minimum wage increase did not raise fast-food employment in that state** ” (Neumark and Wascher 2000, 1,391). Emphasis added. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/149 "2010-11-17T14:14:08Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > That is an interesting summary, especially in light of your claim that there was “strong evidence that minimum wage increases can create jobs”. > > Emphasis added. > > Regards, > Shodan ETA: Removed snark ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/150 "2010-11-17T14:26:53Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > That is an interesting summary, especially in light of your claim that there was “strong evidence that minimum wage increases can create jobs”. > > Emphasis added. > > Regards, > Shodan You shouldn’t have stopped reading there. If you’d have kept reading you would have seen the following: > [@](#): > > A recent University of Minnesota study into the potential effect of raising Minnesota’s minimum wage found that the multiplier effect of the minimum wage could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional sales for Minnesota businesses, as well as the creation of additional jobs. Using estimates from regional economists, Markusen and her colleagues found that, for every dollar earned from minimum wage hikes, $1.50 to $2.00 of income will be generated in the state economy (Markusen et al. 2004). Additionally, Markusen found that minimum wage increases could act as an economic stimulus in areas with a high concentration of low-wage workers. Some other quotes which you neglected to add to your post: > [@](#): > > No empirical evidence shows that Florida’s minimum wage has caused businesses to lay off workers. Instead, state employment has shown strong growth since the new wage took effect, better than in previous years and better than the U.S. as a whole. > [@](#): > > an examination of the Wisconsin labor market one year following the implementation of an increase by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that the most-affected industry, eating and drinking establishments, grew three times more rapidly than the overall Wisconsin job growth rate > [@](#): > > Washington has the highest minimum wage in the country and was the first state to annually adjust its state minimum wage for cost-of-living increases. The Washington-based Economic Opportunity Institute has found that Washington has out-performed the rest of the country in jobs since the end of the recession in November 2001 > [@](#): > > Studies by the Oregon Center for Public Policy have found that Oregon has had faster job growth than 41 other states since its minimum wage and indexing went into effect in 2002. Furthermore, low-wage employers have been adding jobs at a faster rate than Oregon employers overall since the higher minimum wage and annual cost-of-living adjustments were implemented > [@](#): > > Minimum wage states had higher job growth over the past 12 months than the national average (1.6% versus 1.5%). Job growth was substantially higher than the national average in the five states with minimums at $7.00 or more for 2006 (2.3%). > [@](#): > > An analysis of the Massachusetts minimum wage increase in 2000 and 2001 found that employment in two of the sectors (leisure and hospitality and other services) with a high percentage of minimum wage workers grew more rapidly following the 2000-01 increase than other sectors in Massachusetts as well as growing faster than the national average for those sectors But hey, tell you what: You disagree with my claims that minimum wage increases can create jobs, and instead seem to be taking the position that minimum wage increases don’t lower employment at all, just make the lives of minimum wage workers better? OK, you win. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/151 "2010-11-17T14:40:58Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > You shouldn’t have stopped reading there. If you’d have kept reading you would have seen the following: > > Some other quotes which you neglected to add to your post: Is this what you meant by “strong evidence”? Correlation is not causation, as I am sure you would agree. What I would like to see are some studies that the increased minimum wage _caused_ the job increase. > [@](#): > > But hey, tell you what: You disagree with my claims that minimum wage increases can create jobs, and instead seem to be taking the position that minimum wage increases don’t lower employment at all, just make the lives of minimum wage workers better? OK, you win. Actually I would prefer if you left the goal posts where they are. You claimed that there was “strong evidence that minimum wage increases can create jobs”, based on “on the Card-Krueger series of papers.” Now it appears that the Card-Krueger papers don’t say that at all. And your other studies aren’t particularly strong. I wouldn’t be rewriting any text books just yet. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/152 "2010-11-17T15:02:20Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Is this what you meant by “strong evidence”? Correlation is not causation, as I am sure you would agree. What I would like to see are some studies that the increased minimum wage _caused_ the job increase. > Actually I would prefer if you left the goal posts where they are. > > You claimed that there was “strong evidence that minimum wage increases can create jobs”, based on “on the Card-Krueger series of papers.” Now it appears that the Card-Krueger papers don’t say that at all. And your other studies aren’t particularly strong. > > I wouldn’t be rewriting any text books just yet. > > Regards, > Shodan A debate has two sides, let’s make sure we both know where both our goal posts are: are you arguing the case that the best scientific evidence is that raising minimum wages doesn’t increase unemployment, and that the evidence that raising the minimum wage can create jobs doesn’t rise to the level of “strong”? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/153 "2010-11-17T15:16:02Z")
You made a claim. I have not seen any of the strong evidence you claim is there. Your assertion about what the Card-Krueger papers showed doesn’t seem to be factual, so I am reluctant to take your word for it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/154 "2010-11-17T15:44:37Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You made a claim. I have not seen any of the strong evidence you claim is there. Your assertion about what the Card-Krueger papers showed doesn’t seem to be factual, so I am reluctant to take your word for it. > > Regards, > Shodan You seem uncomfortable taking a stand here. That’s OK, I think we’re in agreement anyway; upon reviewing the papers, I agree with you that the Card & Kreueger studies show that increasing minimum wages has no statistically significant impact on unemployment (up or down). So, now that we’ve got that out of the way; minimum wage increases–for or against? ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/155 "2010-11-17T15:52:12Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > You seem uncomfortable taking a stand here. That’s OK, I think we’re in agreement anyway; upon reviewing the papers, I agree with you that the Card & Kreueger studies show that increasing minimum wages has no statistically significant impact on unemployment (up or down). > > So, now that we’ve got that out of the way; minimum wage increases–for or against? Obviously against. It prevents a voluntary transaction from occurring between consenting parties in the marketplace. It is devoid of negative externalities. Therefore it must destroy value. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/156 "2010-11-17T16:16:16Z")
An increase in minimum wage? Definitely against. It causes all sorts of distortions in the labor market, as well as price distortions for the goods and services being processed by the intended audience. Making an extra dollar or two an hour won’t be helpful if across the board prices rise on all goods and services from companies who employ minimum wage workers and who will be effected by such an increase. It also won’t help if companies cut workers they feel they can no longer afford to keep on because they now have to pay them several more dollars an hour. Finally, it makes for bad feelings for employees who have been working somewhere and who came in at a lower minimum wage, got a few raises and now are going to be making the same as the new fish coming in simply because the government decided to wave it’s magic fiat stick and give these new folks a raise. It’s happened to me several times in my misspent youth when minimum wage increases were put in, and would happen again unless the companies in quest also increased the wages of all their low wage employees to compensate. If you are trying to help the poor, then I’d prefer not using these funky back door tactics and simply help them through programs that directly address their issues using general taxes. To me that would be a better solution than this convoluted and distortive method of having everyone pay an under the table ‘tax’ on every good and service that is serviced or produced by low wage workers. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/157 "2010-11-17T16:20:48Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > You seem uncomfortable taking a stand here. That’s OK, I think we’re in agreement anyway; upon reviewing the papers, I agree with you that the Card & Kreueger studies show that increasing minimum wages has no statistically significant impact on unemployment (up or down). Excellent - it takes a big man to admit when he has made a false statement. > [@](#): > > So, now that we’ve got that out of the way; minimum wage increases–for or against? Against. For many of the reasons \*\*IdahoMauleMan \*\*states. And, to forestall the next round of equivocation, is it your position that increases in the minimum wage will have no effect on employment no matter what? Because I think that is a problematic position. > [@](#): > > Congress passed legislation last year that would raise the minimum wage in stages from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 in July 2009. (Several states already have minimum wages higher than that.) > > “If labor becomes more expensive, employers will hire fewer workers,” notes a study from the National Center for Policy Analysis, a research firm based in Dallas. > > And this appears to be playing out with teenage workers. The unemployment rate for teens this August was 18.9%, up from 16.2% a year ago. [Cite.](http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/05/markets/thebuzz/index.htm) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/158 "2010-11-17T16:30:16Z")
More fun anecdotes, I realize, but for some reason all the right-wing members of my family (in-laws mostly) are also the ones who either work for the State (ex-farm families mostly, now maintaining rural roads or working at the State Home) or are on benefits of some sort. One complained to me about “lazy people on benefits” _at the same time_ she was applying for WIC support (which didn’t count because she didn’t _want_ to be on benefits) and another complained that Obamacare has going to bankrupt the country and wanted to get rid of it - because it made it _harder_ to get free medication. In a certain subset of GOP voters, a reality disconnect is required. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/159 "2010-11-17T16:39:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Who can refute a sneer? I don’t believe I’ve contracted for a deal like that; you do; we’re at an impasse. Maybe not, if we’re willing to look at what makes so many modern workplaces such hellholes. Hint: let’s not look simply at economic conditions and give up - let’s look at _our assumptions_ about economic conditions and how we must supervise, work, hire/fire, get along/not get along. Not a project any economist or management analyst wants to take on; they’d need to cooperate with sociologists and nasty touchy-feely-non-quantitative types like that. Those lines of collaboration were chopped decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402/160 "2010-11-17T16:40:24Z")
The debate about the minimum wage seems to be a red herring. My contention is that companies have always trended towards reducing the amount of labor to the absolute minimum no matter what the practical or statutory minimum wage happens to be. If the minimum wage were eliminated tomorrow, does anyone believe that companies would race to hire more workers and replace the automated systems that they have installed to minimize their number of employees? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asking-middle-class-and-lower-dopers-why-they-vote-republican/560402.md?page=9)