I keep seeing things like this, and it really bugs me:
Since 2013, I have been warning those pushing for an increase in minimum wage that it will simply cause higher prices. I, along with others, have been shouted down and told how stupid and wrong I am.
Seattle and California have a $20 per hour minimum wage. The answer is “real communism hasn’t been tried.” People in the Seattle area now have to contend with $26 coffees and $32 sandwiches, with taxes and delivery fees comprising nearly 30 percent of the total bill. Instead of listening, the left is now demanding $33 an hour as a new minimum wage.
If $20 is good, and $33 is better, why stop there? Why not make the minimum wage $250 an hour? Then we can all be rich!
Next month, Florida’s minimum wage will increase to $14 per hour, a 61% increase from the $8.56 minimum wage in the state back in 2020. Not coincidentally, the median home price in Florida went from $306,000 in 2020 to $436,600 in 2025, which represents a 43% increase in house prices.
Rents saw similar increases. Rentals were costing a median of $1187 in 2020, and now are running about $1752 in 2025, a 67% increase.
Increase the minimum wage, and prices will increase to match. Economics, it’s a thing. The socialist blames a free market, but it’s market manipulation that is causing a huge chunk of this.
It isn’t just housing. As long time readers are aware, my Denny’s Grand Slam scale is a great example of this. That breakfast has 2 strips of bacon, two link sausages, two eggs, and two pancakes. A good cross section of food products. I have been using the price of this breakfast in the same Denny’s location since 1997 as an indication of costs.
- Here we are in 2025, and the cost of that breakfast is now $14.19.
- In 1997, that breakfast cost $1.99
- In 2009, it cost $4.99
- In 2021, it cost $9.29
- Just a year later in 2022, it was $11.59
- In 2023, the rate slowed a bit. The breakfast was $11.99 in April
- By November of 2023, the price was up again, to $12.99
So the breakfast in 2021 was $9.29, and it is now $14.19, a 65% increase. It’s almost like prices across the board are increasing to match wages. It’s a simple rule- more money (demand) chasing the same goods (supply) equals higher prices. Now there is a bit of a mismatch, because population (which is also part of demand) has increased a bit, but it still illustrates the point.
Before any of my readers respond with “well, technically…” please understand that my relatively short posts are not an exhaustive treatise on the issue. Books have been written about this, and I am not writing a book here. I had one reader respond to a recent post that mentioned income taxes with a comment that stretched into more than 600 words, explaining that I had calculated the taxes incorrectly. This post went into details about exemptions, credits, and other factors that made my numbers incorrect. My posts aren’t meant to withstand an IRS audit. I use public sources and usually post links to them, but they are still meant to be quick examples to illustrate the point. Responding with an over 600 word comment to explain one insignificant sentence in a 450 word post is just silly.
6 Comments
Steve · August 5, 2025 at 5:59 am
I saw this in person working Dominos. The minimum wage went from $4.00/hour to $4.15/hour and the price of pizzas increased a corresponding number. Customers complained, and I answered the minimum wage went up. Unicorn farts and rainbows didn’t cover the wage increase.
Bo · August 5, 2025 at 6:11 am
I dont think your math is right…
50% of 306 is 153
so 459 would be a 50% increase.
436 cant be a 70% increase it has to be smaller than 50%. How much smaller I got no idea, this kind of math has always been voodoo to me but the ‘common sense’ side of my brain just says those percents are off.
Divemedic · August 5, 2025 at 6:15 am
They are. 436,600 divided by 306,000 is roughly 1.43, which indicates a 43% increase.
Bo · August 5, 2025 at 6:19 am
Sorry, should have cogitated a bit longer…
Subtract the original amount from the new amount first, then divide that answer by the original amount.
Home Prices are up 42.6%
Grand Slam is 52.%
I always hated this kind of math problem, it’s never as straight forward as it seems.
I just don’t want people to ignore an otherwise good post with good points because they get distracted by this.
Honk Honk · August 5, 2025 at 6:57 am
Seize the means of production comrade.
To each according to his need workers of the world unite
It sounded good in the faculty lounge after a few bongloads?
Noway2 · August 5, 2025 at 7:06 am
This voodoo economic system is destined to fail. However, we’ve rounded the curve in the hockey stick and are starting to see the accelerating effects. I read, many years ago, that any economy that is dependent upon continuous growth will fail. I read something recently about how the system was designed to fail. Of course it’s designed to fail in such a way that sucks all the wealth out of the common people. I wish I could recall what it was.
In the (uber leftist – champions of the $20 minim wage) town where I work, there is a McDonalds. It has no drive through. Only a couple of employees. You order at a kiosk and it takes 5 times as long as telling them what you want as you slog through a bunch of picture menus and prompts trying to get you to buy more. Then you wait for them to call your number (4 times as slow as a conventional McDonald’s). Everything packaged as a to go order, but the kiosk tells you to take a number placard and they’ll bring it to you; nope. That’s the effect of these wage mandates.
A coworker, just retired last week, liked to stop there. He would use their app (another nope), and we’d pull into the parking space and wait 15 minutes for someone to bring out our order. If it weren’t a college town that place would be out of business.
The real minimum wage is always, ALWAYS, $0.