I was listening to a radio show and there was a discussion with a couple of CEOs of clothing companies. They covered a wide range of topics but one that really caught my attention was the discussion about increasing the minimum wage. It was interesting that both of these CEOs were not opposed to increasing the pay for their employees; which upon reflection really isn't an odd position for a CEO to take. Most people want to pay their employees well for a variety of reasons. Many do like, despite what you hear from the left side of the aisle, their employees and want them to be as comfortable as possible with their salaries or wages. Also they want to be able to retain competent employees at every level of the organization. But as you might expect both of them were opposed to mandatory increases in the minimum wage through legislation.

Each of them pointed out that most companies rarely keep hourly employees at minimum wage after an initial training period. Most of their hourly employees are in the $11 an hour range at the end of the first year. That seems to be pretty typical in the retail industry as well as the fast food industry for that matter. And we have talked about that most of you are certainly aware of the negative consequences of artificially increasing the minimum wage to something like $15 an hour. From the loss of jobs to the increasing use of technology to cutting hours for those employees to the increased cost of goods and services that they have to buy as well, the intended results of legislated minimum wage increases are never realized.

Both of these CEOs, who, I should say, are guiding well known retail stores, essentially agreed upon the numbers that they were discussing. After doing a little research it appears that these numbers are essentially the same for the retail industry as well as the fast food industry. Currently one of the CEOs said that the amount of profit generated for his business by each employee is $6300 a year. Based upon the average number of hours that their hourly employees work, increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour would increase the cost per employee by $12,000 per year. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this now turns into a $5700 loss per year per employee.

Given the fact that most brick and mortar retail companies are struggling to compete with online retailers, it's very difficult for them to be able to raise prices to try and make up for this shortfall. Most of these companies have already cut expenses to the bone and have no room left to cut, other than cutting hours or the number of employees. So once again they are forced by simple business principles to take actions that damage the people minimum wage laws are designed to assist. So is it any wonder that fast food operations are looking at automated replacements for hourly workers? Is it any wonder that major retailers like Sears, JCPenney's, or Sports Authority are struggling or have gone out of business? Is it any wonder that many small businesses are having a tougher time as well?

Apparently liberals don't see it that way despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, because they continue to push for "livable" wages everywhere, including right here in Grant County. But history tells us from Santa Fe to Seattle and everywhere in between where this has been done, negative consequences have resulted. But as we know for liberals the outcome doesn't matter, it's more about themselves feeling good because they have done something they believe to help the poor and downtrodden.