I got yer $15 per hour right here

Although the furor over the $15 minimum wage seems to have died down with "Trump is the embodiment of evil" narrative sucking all the leftist air out of the room, it still is killing jobs and floating around the political narrative so I wanted to share a personal little anecdote that I think does a nice job of wrecking the "everyone gets $15 per hour" nonsense.

Our second oldest son has been taking welding classes at the local community college. He will be done at the end of the year, shy of his 19th birthday. He stopped by a small local plant today that does some sort of welding or pipe-fitting or something to see about working there part-time while he finishes his classes. They were ecstatic to talk to him. Assuming he can pass the basic skills test for welding, a cinch, he would start at $16/hour. Even those that can't pass it can be trained and they get paid $15 during training. So they give you a very valuable skill and pay you $15 while you do it. Oh, and there is a $1000 sign-on bonus. Plus they are happy to work around his class schedule. So before he turns 19 he will make more than I made in my first couple of jobs out of college and just by showing up to work to work he gets an automatic $.25 raise every quarter.

In summary, with a little initiative on his part he starts out above the magical $15 per hour and even if he hadn't he could start out at $15 right to start. So yeah he will work hard and in a hot environment and it won't be easy but then again it shouldn't be to make $15 per hour. On the other hand, why should someone who has shown zero initiative suddenly make the same as someone with marketable skills who has taken some ownership of their career?

You want to make $15 per hour? Great, I can tell you how. Do you want someone to just give you a 30,40, 50% raise just cuz you think they should? No thanks. Get off you butt and do something for yourself. There is limitless opportunity in this country, we used to understand that as a people and seek it out, savoring the chance to better our lot in life. Now we want benevolent Uncle Sam to give us more money because a new tattoo and the latest iPhone ain't gonna pay for themselves.