Was Fox News afraid that a real economist would not predict enough doom and gloom in the wake of minimum wage increases across the country?
18 states raised their minimum wages on January 1. Three days later, Fox fear mongered that the sky is about to fall.
Instead of turning to an economist, Fox & Friends turned to legal analyst and Fox Business Network’s “Property Man” host, Bob Massi.
The pretext for the alarmism was cohost Ainsley Earhardt’s announcement that a Bank of Canada report claimed that 60,000 jobs could be lost as a result of minimum wage hikes in Canada. Moments later, Earhardt turned that into a certainty as she asked, “So, with many states and cities raising their minimum wages here in the United States, will the economic impact be as negative as they’ve seen in Canada?”
Sure enough, Massi gave the responses his bosses were undoubtedly looking for. So what if he conflated the two countries' situations?
MASSI: If you raise it up to what they’re talking about, $15 an hour, that could be devastating to businesses because ultimately what’s going to happen, they’re waiting for this tax reform now to help them grow their business. With that kind of increase, there’s no question there’d be a reduction in staff, and ultimately you’re going to have people that are going to be affected. It’s going to affect bonuses, raises, and things like that. ... It’s going to devastate their business.
EARHARDT: Really, so businesses won’t be able to grow with wage hikes?
As an example, Massi talked about a restaurant with 75 employees. “How are they going to possibly pay that minimum wage, grow their business, increase their service? It’s not going to happen.” He also said a higher minimum wage “could make owners cheat” by paying workers under the table.
“If you force someone to do it, that’s not a good thing,” Earhardt said about a higher minimum wage.
“Of course,” Massi replied.
Earhardt did suggest that wage hikes could be good for the economy because more people may be encouraged to purchase houses.
Massi was a naysayer about that too. “Yeah, I read a couple articles about this,” newly-minted expert Massi said. “The problem is, what happens to those people who loses [sic] their jobs?” Those people, which Massi implied would outnumber those who benefitted from a wage hike, “won’t have the money to buy cars, buy houses, buy consumer goods every week.”
A recent report from the National Employment Law Project examined 22 increases in the federal minimum wage between 1938 and 2009 and found that overall employment usually increased after a federal minimum-wage raise.
Predictably, Earhardt did not mention that.
Watch the anti-wage-raise propaganda below, from the January 4, 2018 Fox & Friends.
Ontario raised the minimum from 11.60 (CAN$) to 14.00 (CAN$). An online converter pegs the old rate at $9.36 (US). Exactly how is someone supposed to buy a house earning $9.36/hour? Massi you’re a real estate expert please explain this to me. 🤔