Today on Bad Arguments I wanted to go after a talking point that I’ve heard libertarians, conservatives, and general proponents of capitalism use against the notion of increasing the minimum wage. An unfortunately common counter to the Fight for $15 crowd is asking “why stop there? Why not $100, $1,000, $1,000,000??? That’ll be what comes next.” While the usage of this particular argument has been in decline, I still see it used from time to time and it needs to stop. While I am also in disagreement with the proponents of higher and higher state enforced minimum wages, I cannot support the usage of this terrible argument. Let’s break it down.
The most obvious component of this argument is Slippery Slope Fallacy that’s in play. For those unaware, a Slippery Slope Fallacy is when you extrapolate a relatively small initial step into something far larger and with a deeper impact that shouldn’t happen, then argue that because of this proposed chain of events that it’s proof that the initial step shouldn’t take place either. This type of fallacy is a form of an appeal to probability. The person asserting that this chain of events will take place is attempting to predict the future based on little more than imagination. Even if the chain of events did come true there is little more than chance at play that it would evolve the way the initial person claimed. The off chance that the chain of events could happen doesn’t hold any real weight as proof that the initial step ought to be avoided. Claiming that minimum wage increases are to be avoided because they could reach ridiculous heights doesn’t directly say anything against the initial step.
Further is the fallacy of Reductio Ad Absurdum. This type of fallacy, also known as Argumentum Ad Absurdum (or argument to absurdity), happens when a person takes their argument to a ridiculous place to disprove or discredit an argument based on extremes rather than the argument’s own merits. An alternative example of this would be someone saying “We need to hire more people” and someone replying with “Sure, let’s just make the labor budget infinite and hire everyone on earth!” It’s a silly counter-argument. Screaming that we may as well make the minimum wage a million dollars because some people are advocating for it to reach $15 is equally silly.
As stated earlier on, I am against increases to government-mandated minimum wages and the existence of said minimum wages in general. My reasons for this are based in Austrian economics and the philosophy of a free market, as well as research and peer-reviewed studies on the matter. This particular argument, and others like it, are simply bad arguments, and do more harm than good to those of us that argue against this form of government interference into our wallets and lives.
You can read more from Killian Hobbs on Think Liberty here.
