Clean Up in Aisle 7! Carol Roth Wipes the FLOOR With Mark Cuban in Debate About the Raising Minimum Wage

Nick Searcy is a tireless warrior for the Right. He also made a really kick-butt western with Nic Cage called, 'The Old Way' BUT this editor digresses.

Nick decided to call Mark Cuban out about raising the minimum wages which is not surprisingly causing havoc in California.

But @mcuban said this was a great idea! He did it for his employees! Why shouldn’t everyone or something? https://t.co/iTqzFxGock
— Nick Searcy, INSURRECTIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) June 9, 2024

Mark fired back.

You have it backwards. The smaller ones can now better compete with the big ones.

You like that. Right ?
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 9, 2024

What? Does he really think smaller businesses can actually compete with bigger businesses if they have to pay $20 an hour? C'mon man.

No, they can’t. Mom and Pop restaurants can’t compete with the national chains, because the national chains can subsidize the smaller markets that don’t make money. You know, like the NBA does. But you like that, right?
— Nick Searcy, INSURRECTIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) June 9, 2024

Excellent dig from Nick

Lol. That makes no sense. And you have no idea why.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 9, 2024

Then Nick called in the financial big dog herself, Carol Roth.

Hey, @caroljsroth, could you step in here and explain actual retail business and service industries to @mcuban here? He’s making a fool of himself again. https://t.co/Fe6bJInBcu
— Nick Searcy, INSURRECTIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) June 9, 2024

And here we go:

Sure! Price controls have adverse effects, as everyone knows. In addition to taking away jobs, the $20 mandate creates pressure on small biz. While SMBs may be “technically” exempt, the mandate sets an artificial price benchmark in the market. If someone can get paid $20/hr for…
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) June 9, 2024

I get that's the standard logic. But it applies across industries. The fact that government jobs and many other employers in Cali, including restaurants, pay more, should set the benchmark for wages for entry level jobs.

Unfortunately the market is not absolutely efficient…
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 9, 2024

His post continues, a lot. Like A LOT.

Heh.

Unfortunately the market is not absolutely efficient because there are many constraints for potential employees (travel, housing, etc)
Beyond that. There is the other side of the ledger that matters as well.
When an employer doesn't pay a livable wage, taxpayers have to subsidize the shortfall in their account to pay for things every peeson/family needs. We pay for their healthcare via expensive emergency rooms, They don't have the ability to support their children as well. They participate in other state and federal subsidy programs that we pay for.
As I said elsewhere, it's not easy to find the equilibrium between wages and costs.
When layoffs occur, unemployment insurance is expensive. As are the many other services the former employee requires.
I think we all benefit when businesses take on the responsibility of figuring out how to help their employees live with as little burden to the taxpayer as possible. VS the government trying to figure out how to help people figure it out
The worse news is that people appear to be ready to spend just as much on fast food as before. Which means while the layed off employees will have the experience to find jobs at other FF locations, obesity will continue to be an expensive problem
Do you agree there is an argument to be made that higher fast food prices can have at least a tiny positive impact on the health of Americans ?

Hoo boy. Note, we did not change anything about his post so if you see grammatical errors that's on him, not us.

Carol responded as only she can:

It’s more than standard logic, it’s economic reality.

There are a lot of odd assumptions and hypothesis above. What’s a “livable wage”? For whom? Based on what? For how many hours of work? It’s such a weak progressive talking point for someone so smart and successful.

If…
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) June 10, 2024

Her post continues:

If someone has no skills, they should be adjusting their living expectations accordingly—where and how they live, how many hours they work, etc., They should want to and be incentivized to gain skills and move up.
What entrepreneur or small business owner works 40 hours a week or less? And nobody guarantees their wages…
Also, you undoubtedly know that those FF/min wage workers are usually kids, new entrants into the workforce, part-time workers—very few of them (statistically) are primary heads of households.
So, now a bunch of people don’t get into the workforce and gain necessary skills to move up because of some central planners and advocates thinking they are smarter and morally superior.
Good intentions do not equal good outcomes.
And, if you aren’t aware, the entire history of the minimum wage was steeped in racism and keeping certain people (immigrants and women) out of the workforce. It has the same effect today.
Moreover, if you are interested in making life more affordable for individuals, it would be welcome to see your voice used to criticize the real issues- Fed monetary and government fiscal policy that has devalued individual purchasing power and created non-merit based inequalities. As we both know, the nominal amount doesn’t matter, it’s what that wage can buy, and nobody, not even you, can figure out by yourself what that is across the market and institute price controls and not have to deal with bad consequences.
As for me dictating others’ lifestyle choices, it’s not my place. And it's not the government's place, either. Freedom comes with responsibility. If we start trying to eliminate anything that we personally deem “bad”, nothing will exist.
I’m also all for businesses doing good things, but that doesn’t work by mandate.
The government doesn’t do anything well or efficiently. You know that. You are an entrepreneur and know how to solve problems. Government isn’t incented to do anything like that.
Keep doing good things with real solutions (like you are with Cost Plus drugs) and hopefully you will eventually embrace the reality that the government is not a fairy godmother, no matter how much you may want to pretend government is competent, noble or free from rampant moral hazard.