Money for Nothing

People in S.F. love the idea of a minimum wage. It warms them to the core to imaging that "their" gov't is ordering Big Bad Business to pay their workers a "minimum." But does anyone think a wage of nearly $10/hr is any sort of minimum? 

Oh, you'll hear a lot about the high cost of living in S.F. (which is true to a point), but there are plenty of low-cost neighborhoods in S.F. The high cost of living here mostly impacts those who are determined to live in North Beach, the Haight, or the Castro, rather than its less glamorous environs like Excelsior or The Outer Sunset. S.F.'s minimum wage is, strange to say, a middle class subsidy. The beneficiaries are often the college educated baristas, retail clerks, and waiters who want to live in a bobo playground without completely leaving behind the bourgeoise comforts in which they were raised and educated. 

The conceit of these sorts of things is ridiculous. The sentence "San Francisco's labor force will get a small dose of good cheer" because of the minimum wage increase makes it sound like thousands upon thousands of Bob Cratchetts  are sitting around waiting for progressive gov't to bestow their new wage. As if. The guy in the article who is getting ready to spend 4 weeks in South America is much closer to the true state of affairs. 

The truth is: this is an artificially inflated wage level that will hurt workers more than it will help. For one thing, a true minimum wage would be a training wage, with further wage increases for those employees who can master skills like enthusiasm, friendly service, team work, and coming to work on time. With a "minimum" wage of $10, most retail and restaurant workers will be stuck at that pay level for eternity, as their cash strapped, low-margin employers struggle under artificial gov't mandated wage levels.