Swisher letter: Minimum wage
In his great work, “The Wealth Of Nations,” Adam Smith wrote: “It may too be of some use to the Public in regulating the pecuniary reward of some of its inferior servants. If a rise in the price of some sorts of provisions be owing to a fall in the value of silver, their pecuniary reward,… …ought certainly to be augmented in proportion to the extent of this fall.” (Chpt. XI, Part III)
In other words, if Adam Smith were here today, he would insist that the minimum wage be increased to make up for inflation. Since the minimum wage was last increased in 2009, inflation has gone up over 10 percent. It’s time to raise the minimum wage.
If the father of free-market capitalism realized the importance of raising the minimum wage to make up for losses in purchasing power, why doesn’t the Idaho Legislature?
Aaron Swisher, Boise
This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Swisher letter: Minimum wage."