Ted Cruz's dad: African-Americans 'need to be educated' about minimum wage

From the San Antonio Express-News via the Houston Chronicle:

Black people "need to be educated" to stop supporting minimum wage laws, the father of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told a gathering of Republicans in Central Texas in August.

The video, published by Buzzfeed, shows the Rev. Rafael Cruz encouraging members of the Western Williamson County Republican Club on Aug. 21 to purchase "Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed" authored by Jason Riley, an African-American member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

More here.

Leaving aside for the moment Rafael Cruz's utterly patronizing attitude toward blacks, I would say that somebody needs to educate HIM about the minimum wage.

When the only jobs available for an individual are minimum wage jobs, then it would be the height of lunacy for that individual not to support minimum wage hikes. And that's that. Abstract reasoning, pushed by businesses, and often bullshit, about "the economy" or "job makers" or "fewer jobs," has absolutely no meaning when you're trying to put food on the table for your family. You need better pay. You know the business employing you can afford it. You also know, in this now union free America, that they'll never give you a raise unless the government forces them to do it.

In short, you're freaking STUPID not supporting minimum wage increases when you work for minimum wage. Also, it stimulates the economy. Also, the only reason businesses are against it is because they're too short-sighted to understand that it benefits them, too, in the long run.

I'm so sick of this folk wisdom masquerading as serious thought.

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