Prop. 202's Nasty Surprises  Posted on October 09, 2006 | Type:
Op-Ed | Author: Thomas C. Patterson   • Twitter   • Facebook   •
Email  Prop. 202, the minimum wage initiative, would raise the
statewide minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75 per hour. Proponents
don't talk much about the other provisions in the proposition,
which is understandable. There's some pretty nasty stuff in the
small print.    Advocates claim minimum wage legislation is
needed so that no working people need live in poverty.  Forcing
employers to pay workers more than the market value of their
labor is even said to be economically stimulating, since lower
income workers necessarily spend a higher proportion of their
income. It would be wonderful if the world actually worked like
that. We could require employers to pay $40 or $50 per hour and
poverty would be abolished.    There are, as always, studies on
both sides but about 90 percent of economists agree that raising
the minimum wage causes job loss. This is particularly hard on
minority yo