Matt Walsh: “You don't need a higher minimum wage. You just need to not be on minimum wage anymore.”
Walsh: “You're not supposed to camp out on minimum wage and try to build your life on it”
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From the February 14, 2024, edition of The Daily Wire's The Matt Walsh Show
MATT WALSH (HOST): Anytime the subject of minimum wage comes up, it's important to remember that the -- the whole topic is a red herring. It -- the whole thing is irrelevant. Now, yes, I agree that it's difficult to support yourself on minimum wage. I've done it, so I know that it's hard. You know, it's very difficult. And it's even harder, if not basically impossible these days, to support a family on minimum wage. You know, you basically -- it's essentially -- you can't do it. You can support yourself. I mean, it's very, very difficult, but it's -- you can do that, it is possible. A family, no. You just can't. It's not enough money.
But here's the thing, minimum wage -- that's not what it's for. That is not the point of minimum wage. It's not why it exists. Minimum wage jobs don't exist for that. Raising minimum wage, you know what it's like? It's a bit like trying to invent training wheels for bicycles that would allow a child to go 30 miles an hour on the bike. OK? That's what it's like. It defeats the whole purpose of the training wheels. If he's ready to go that fast, it's long past time to take the training wheels off. OK? The whole point of training wheels, it's the assumption that the kid can't go even a mile an hour on the bike. It -- it's like -- so the training wheels are designed for that. So, you don't need faster training wheels. You just need to have no training wheels. Take them off. Same with minimum wage. Minimum wage, it's like these are the training wheels of -- of income levels. You don't need a higher minimum wage. You just need to not be on minimum wage anymore. You need to graduate beyond minimum wage.
Minimum wage is not for adults with houses and kids and car payments. It's not for that. So when we're saying to ourselves, well, even on $15 an hour, there's no way that an adult could have a mortgage and pay for the car and have a kid. It's impossible. It's not a living wage. Yes, you're damn right. Of course it's not. It's not for that. That's not what it's for. It's not why it exists. Minimum wage is for teenagers. It's for college students working part time. It's for high school students. You're not supposed to camp out on minimum wage and try to build your life on it. Yes, of course, you can't. But that's why you don't stay there.