A Threat, Not a Theory (Democracy Journal)

For decades, opponents of raising the minimum wage have deployed every scary story they possibly could to maintain the status quo of America's employment landscape. To hear them tell it, increasing wages would bring about one thousand years of darkness, a wave of debilitating plagues, and threaten the livelihood of every family's first born child. This opposition, and hyperbolic fear-mongering, is ultimately based on nothing but a theory - one which just so happens to serve the interests of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. When researchers look at the history of minimum wage increases they don't find death and destruction; quite the opposite, they find strength and prosperity.

This deep analysis by Nick Hanauer in Democracy Journal lays out - with welcomed and much needed clarity - the history of the minimum wage and why raising it today isn't simply an option, but an absolute necessity for those who wish to achieve a more robust and resilient economy. You can read the article here.