Sometimes it seems there is nothing so dangerous as being a friend of this administration \u2013 dangerous in terms of how the administration treats you.<\/p>\n
I am not sure I had ever heard the term \u201cthrow under the bus\u201d until, during the 2008 campaign, candidate Obama did exactly that to his deceased grandmother, suggesting she had been racist for expressing uneasiness about an aggressive panhandle.\u00a0 But the president\u2019s recent drive for a substantial minimum wage increase sets a new standard for throwing friends under the bus.<\/p>\n
Which groups have supported Mr. Obama most strongly and fervently?\u00a0 Young people, young women and minorities would have to rank at the top of the pile.<\/p>\n
Why then would a president concerned about the well being of his supporters decide now, in this economy, to champion an increase in what can fairly be termed the Youth Unemployment Wage or the Female Youth Unemployment Wage or the Minority Youth Unemployment Wage.\u00a0 Take your pick.<\/p>\n
It is not as if the higher wage will have much impact on the income inequality, the administration\u2019s current chew toy.\u00a0 A vanishingly small percent of the American workforce receives the minimum wage \u2013 between 1.1 percent (http:\/\/bit.ly\/1g1mb3R<\/a>) to nearly 3.0 percent (http:\/\/bit.ly\/QA9aCi<\/a>), depending on the data set you use.<\/p>\n But the higher mandatory wage will have an impact on unemployment.\u00a0 Cato Institute scholar and Johns Hopkins professor Steve Hanke recently (http:\/\/bit.ly\/1geeTu4<\/a>) compared nearly a decade of annual unemployment rates of European countries without a minimum wage to those with one.\u00a0 He did the same for youth unemployment numbers, too.<\/p>\n The results?<\/p>\n In 2012, overall unemployment rates were nearly 50 percent higher in countries with the minimum wage.\u00a0 The gap was nearly as large among young people.\u00a0 Youth unemployment was 27.7 percent in 2012 where the minimum wage was in force; 19.5 percent where it was not.\u00a0 Hanke quotes Milton Friedman as saying, \u201cA minimum wage is, in reality, a law that makes it illegal for an employer to hire a person with limited skills\u201d \u2013 which sums up the problem with it.<\/p>\n Now who receives the minimum wage in the United States?<\/p>\n According to the Pew Research Center, \u201c[p]eople at or below the federal minimum are:\u00a0Disproportionately young: 50.6% are ages 16 to 24; 24% are teenagers (ages 16 to 19)\u2026 fully half are white women.\u201d (http:\/\/bit.ly\/RAqx6P<\/a>).\u00a0 you can be sure that young minorities are heavily represented in that group, too.<\/p>\n