Americans have debated the merits and disadvantages of a state-imposed minimum wage for years. The government first established a federal minimum wage of 25 cents as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.
Since the passing of the 1938 act, the federal minimum wage has risen to $7.25 an hour, with some state minimum wage rates even higher. The controversy over a minimum wage has also grown increasingly partisan.
Here are five quotes from America’s wealthiest people about the minimum wage:
Urgent: Do You Think the Minimum Wage Should Be Raised?
“I would never command even a minimum wage. The brutal truth is that an advanced economic system, whether it be geared to physical or mental skills, will leave a great many people behind… I may wish to have all jobs pay at least $15 an hour. But that minimum would almost certainly reduce employment in a major way, crushing many workers possessing only basic skills. Smaller increases, though obviously welcome, will still leave many hardworking Americans mired in poverty.”
— Warren Buffett, The Wall Street Journal, 2015
“Anything that people with limited capital can do to raise themselves up, they keep throwing obstacles in their way. And so we’ve got to clear those out. Or the minimum wage. Or anything that reduces the mobility of labor.”
— Charles Koch, Forbes, 2013
“I’ve always thought that this impetus to raise the minimum wage is one of the most misguided things we can do. … You’re going to hurt the poor. There will be some amount of job loss if you raise the minimum wage.”
— Michael Bloomberg, Observer, 2014
“I wouldn’t want to see the unintended consequences of job loss as a result of going that high. That would not be the case at Starbucks, but I suspect that most companies, especially small- and mid-sized companies, would not be able to afford it.”
— Howard Schultz, KPLU 88.5, 2014
Vote Now: How Do You Feel About the Minimum Wage?
“You have to be a bit careful that if you raise the minimum wage, you’re encouraging labor substitution, that you’re going to go buy machines and automate things or cause jobs to appear outside of that jurisdiction…you’re just making a huge tradeoff.”
—
Bill Gates, MSNBC, 2014
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