Michael Denny for Mayor Media Release (html document attached)
DENNY BLASTS "LIVING WAGE"
Calls for full employment of San Franciscans
April 30, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christopher R. Maden
E-mail: chris@michaeldennyformayor.com
Telephone: (415) 845-8202
San Francisco, April 30, 2003 - Libertarian candidate for mayor Michael
Denny roundly panned proposals to implement a so-called "living wage"
law
in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering raising the
minimum
wage in San Francisco beyond the state's minimum requirement. In a
letter
to Board president Matt Gonzalez, Denny said, "While I appreciate your
intent, these laws most severely harm the people you are trying to
help."
Denny went on, "It's interesting that our first minimum wage law was
intended to help women in low paying jobs. The immediate result in 1913
was
a loss of 6-14% of these women's jobs. Can San Francisco afford to
unnecessarily cause thousands of workers to lose their jobs?"
Nobel-winning economists have repeatedly shown that a minimum wage makes
less-skilled workers unemployable. They can offer an employer less value
than the law requires they be paid; as a result, they are denied the
chance
to learn new skills that would broaden their opportunities. Instead, the
primary benefactors of such laws are children of middle-class families
working entry-level food-service jobs.
Denny observed, "only a free, vibrant and diverse economy with broad
division of labor across many small and large businesses can create
wealth
for masses of people."
He cautioned Supervisor Gonzalez and the Board: "Economics is a science
with well-established laws, just like physics. Those laws can't be
dismissed by legislation any more than the law of gravity can. To
understand the logic, imagine how many would be rendered jobless by
increasing the minimum wage to $100 per hour.
"When elected government officials ignore the laws of economics,
citizens
suffer, especially the poor. The proposed legislation targets the
poorest
and least-skilled workers among us, and will increase homelessness even
more. It's the complete opposite of what's truly needed.
"The best thing government can do for the poor is to stop making their
employment illegal."
About Michael Denny:
Michael Denny is a husband, a father of four children, a small business
owner, and a Libertarian candidate for mayor of San Francisco. His
campaign
Web site is michaeldennyformayor.com. Libertarians believe in personal
freedom, in both social and economic spheres, and in minimal government
to
protect those freedoms.
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