Minimum wage detracts from business more than it supports

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since 2009. Even though 96 percent of gainfully employed Americans earn more than the minimum, there is a push to increase it to a “living wage.” Minimum wage is a bad idea for several reasons, it ignores the concept of entry-level jobs, it forces mechanization and/or elimination of low skilled jobs and interferes with the free market.

I got my first job off the farm before I was in the eighth grade. I bagged groceries at Bob’s Market for 75 cents an hour. A few months later, my application at the supermarket out on the highway rose to the top o...