Socialist Pay

Gotcha arguments can be cheapshots, of the sort favored by conceited adolescent males, but sometimes they’re to the point. Seattle’s Freedom Socialist Party demands a $15 an hour minimum wage for every worker. In June, they denounced the mayor of Seattle for not going far enough in his support:

In May, new Mayor Ed Murray, Democrat, announced his proposal for $15/hour — for some workers, after several years. Healthcare, tips, and other ‘compensation’ would be calculated into their ‘income.’ In short, Mayor Murray’s plan caters to big business.” [emphasis theirs]

And when they advertise for a half-time web content manager, a skilled position, they offer $13 an hour. They save $40 a week by not paying what they believe the minimum decent wage.

They’re being realistic about what they can afford. Fine. Everyone does that. But you would think that having realized they could only pay $13 an hour for this skilled position, they might then think through their demand that everyone pay $15 an hour for any position, including those requiring much less training and skill than a web content editor.

Having faced an economic reality, they ought to include that economic reality in their thinking about economics. Doing that would make their arguments better, for one thing.