i wrote this out more technically somewhere or other some time ago, so we'll just do the short version.

suppose you're a walmart. hey, walmart. how's it going? k. so, you're a walmart.

how many people do you choose to hire when the minimum wage is $10/hr? the answer is the least amount that you possibly can. i know, you're thinking "i'm a job creator!"....but you know you're full of shit. i know you're full of shit, too. so, let's drop the bs. you're a walmart, and the minimum wage is $10/hr, and you're already staffed with the smallest number of people that you can possibly staff and still manage to actually run your business.

the gummamint is threatening to increase the minimum wage to $15/hr. wow. holy shit. $15/hr? so, you as a walmart, are threatening to fire people....because you're a job creator, and that's what job creators do: fire people when they get too expensive. obviously.

so, which one of the minimum number of employees required to run your business do you plan on firing?

yeah, that's right - you can't fire them, can you? because you've already hired the absolute minimum number of people that you possibly can - because you're a walmart, and that's how a walmart works.

so, you get grumpy and threaten to shut the whole store down! and release all of the video vaults of employees fucking in the back, too! don't act like you don't know that's a characteristic of every single fucking walmart on the planet, either. but, let's not dwell on this or visualize it too much. right. anyways..

as you're literally rolling a cart of beach balls out of the building, one of your managers runs towards you with a set of print outs, yelling - wait! wait! look!...

you stop. you look at the printouts. sales are up. by a lot.

"i think i understand", says the manager. "our customers are mostly low wage earners. they just got a 30-50% raise. so, they came here to spend a lot of money. stuff like clothes for their kids. that created a big increase in demand, all at the same time. but, come over here i want to show you something..."

the manager then takes you through the store. the line-ups are longer than they should be.

"we may need some extra cashiers."

she then takes you to the back, where you notice that there is a giant backlog.

"we need more stockers, too."

you realize that the minimum amount of staff you require to stay in business has now increased.

after a walk, you decide to roll your cart of beach balls back into the store. things will be fine, after all.