So much for jobs losses caused by mininum-wage increases....

CERTAIN PRO-BUSINESS ELEMENTS ON K STREET CAN ALWAYS BE EXPECTED TO ACT IN PROPAGANDA LOCKSTEP anytime Congress or state legislatures propose increases in the mininum wage companies pay to especially entry-level workers.

The most common patsy thus deployed will be that which claims that every time the mininum wage is increased, companies are forced to let workers go just to keep costs down and maintain value for money--even if it means resorting to creative patsies which conceal the real reasons.

Which lies on its face when you consider that studies have shown where mininum-wage increases have actually had the opposite effect--as in creating jobs and increasing payrolls, in turn increasing revenue from PAYE ("pay-as-you-earn") deductions for withholding taxes and Social Security contributions.

In turn, prompting some interesting questions as may want to be asked of that ilk:

• How many companies do you know of that have actually had to let go unskilled workers in particular (including such employable only because of workfare or targeted-assistance employment schemes) following, or because of, mininum-wage increases?
• What reasons were given to the employees affected in explaining their dismissal (as in avoiding the obvious and otherwise risking charges of improper dismissal)?
• Could the "official" reasons for dismissal be factually substantiated?
• How many of those thus dismissed were:
• National Minorities?
• women?
• disabled workers?
• those employed because of workfare or other targeted assistance schemes (e.g., Vocational Rehabilitation, School-to-Work, Displaced Worker Retraining, Veterans' Readjustment) where tax incentives and/or wage subsidies in lieu of traditional welfare benefits may be available to employers?
• How many of the world's "developed" countries do you know of where no mininum-wage laws or policies exist, instead having such formulated by industry-sponsored groups on a "best practice" basis?
• Would such opposition to the mininum wage also include support for "complete and final" denationalisation of State Social Security? How are the two interrelated?

You know where to leave the answers....