Economist Warns the Leftists $25 Per Hour Minimum

Way back in 1964, Ronald Reagan said, “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” Even today, he couldn’t have been more proper. One of the issues that our liberal buddies are dangerously ignorant about is economics. If it is not the perception that the nation might be taxed into prosperity, it’s the notion that a $20-an-hour or more minimal wage will help working people. An economist is now warning about just how harmful high-dollar minimal wages can be to the nation’s financial system.

Thanks to years of high inflation, Illinois’ $15/hour minimal wage has the same shopping for energy now as $11.36/hour did in February 2019, when Gov. Pritzker signed the five-year phased increase into law. There’s been no real debate in Springfield over a raise or indexing to inflation https://t.co/WnKTIuhmaw

— Dan Petrella (@PetrellaReports) August 18, 2026

READ MORE: The Minimum Wage Is Always Zero: New $30 Minimum Wage Could Axe Hundreds of Hotel Jobs in LA

Rebekah Paxton is an economist and research director with a conservative group called the Employment Policies Institute (EPI). As leftist members of Congress push for a $25-an-hour minimal wage flooring to be set by 2031, and there may be the menace of an inflow of Democratic Socialists to Congress in 2027, she is sounding the alarm that a federal minimal wage mandate of that quantity can be an absolute “job killer.” She acknowledged in an interview with Fox News Digital:

“When you’re talking about doubling or tripling the minimum wage, you’re talking about doubling and tripling labor costs for businesses in those areas. There may be some businesses that try to absorb that through higher prices, but ultimately what we know from economists, business owners, and workers themselves is that it doesn’t always work. In a lot of ways, it means business owners are going to have to slash jobs and reduce the number of hours that folks are able to work. Our report shows that that’s going to cost almost five million jobs across the country.”

That 5 million consists of 1.2 million tipped workers, mainly in the restaurant and hospitality industries. Paxton goes on to say that Sunbelt states like Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida can be the states hardest hit. Many of the fastest-growing counties in the nation are in these states. That pattern would even broaden to locations like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas where, the researcher famous, it might “more than tripl[e] the current minimum wage.”

The Democrats resolution for inflation is to raise the minimal wage to $25/hr. Are they purposely attempting to destroy the financial system?

— Anthony (@AnthonyG0528) August 19, 2026

Pushback comes not just from financial majors in Congress like Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) – yeah, she actually is – but also from a group called One Fair Wage, a coalition of organizations and labor unions that help a $25-an-hour minimal wage and declare it isn’t just a far-Left concept. President of One Fair Wage, Saru Jayaraman, says, “We’re seeing so many MAGA voters excited about a $25 minimum wage…” Sorry, I’ll take “things that never happened” on that one.

ALSO READ: Gavin Newsom’s Minimum Wage Boondoggle Comes With a Big Side of Fail As Automation, Job Cuts Skyrocket

In 2026, there are roughly 282 Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-endorsed candidates operating for workplace. It’s a fairly protected wager that they all help a $25-an-hour minimal wage. Not all of them will win, but will enough of them make it to Congress, and are enough of them economically illiterate, to move the Living Wage for All Act, launched by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL-3) in July and April, respectively? 

It does not take more than to take an Econ 101 class to perceive that raising prices for small companies forces them to lay off workers. Once again, unhealthy Democrat coverage destroys the very people they are saying they need to help.

Denver’s minimal wage will rise to $19.84 an hour on Jan. 1, renewing debate over how larger labor prices have an effect on employees and companies. https://t.co/KY9wKndBqN

— Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) August 17, 2026

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has been contaminated by socialism, and it is spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there’s nothing to fear about, but we all know the reality.

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