We’re going to see more stories like this one in which a number of restaurant owners discuss ways in which they attempt to reduce costs and/or raise prices as a response to arbitrary minimum wage laws.

Eventually, operations that survive will either have cut the service choice for consumers or will have had to move into a higher priced category that many consumers cannot afford.

Restaurant workers may earn nominally higher wages but the business model will remain relatively unchanged. The economy, which represents the millions of choices and actions of trade over time will ensure that stability.

What is likely to change is the amount of money and credit as artificially determined by central banks like the Bank of Canada. Translation: more inflation and most likely a general rise in price levels over time.

At some future time some immoral politician will once again observe erroneously that the plight of minimum wage workers needs to be addressed by the iron fist of government.

At one time it was pseudo-intellectuals who communicated in unnecessarily complicated terms and of whom Nietzsche said, “they muddy the waters to make them deep”.

Now you might paraphrase the nineteenth century philosopher to say of politicians, “they raise the minimum wage to make them rich”.

All they’ve done though, is muddy the economy with dirty politics.