Here’s Governor Murphy’s latest half-truth (Opinion)

Robert Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange land wrote, “The slickest way in the world to lie is to tell the right amount of truth at the right time and then shut up.” In my opinion, these are the words that most NJ politicians live by, the Governor first and foremost. And here’s a great example. Everyone knows Governor Murphy is a huge fan of raising the minimum wage. In fact, he publicly lauded Amazon, now a prominent employer in NJ for doing just that, presumably making his acolytes and other fans of socialism squirm with delight.

After all, the more a state government has control over business, the more secure and safe people of that ilk tend to feel. Plus, the whole idea SOUNDS so great—just up the minimum wage, the middle-class makes more money, people can feed their families, lollipops, puppy dogs, rainbows and all that happy stuff—all courtesy of governor Murphy and your loving and caring state legislature.

The problem is, the benefits that Murphy espouses are a lie by omission. Here’s why: surely the governor is aware that to compensate for raising their hourly wage, Amazon has admitted that they’ve had to eliminate benefits like incentive based monthly bonuses. They’ve also had to restrict stock unit awards for hourly workers to compensate for the raise in the minimum. That is a choice Amazon made. But once the government decides that the $15 minimum wage is a nonnegotiable, both employers and employees will lose that freedom of choice.

For instance, let’s say you’re looking for a company where you really need the benefits more than the cash and you’re willing to forgo the extra couple bucks an hour to get them. You would have the option of working somewhere besides Amazon. However, if all companies are forced to raise their minimum wage to $15, in order to make up that shortfall companies are going to be dropping benefits like hot potatoes.

Since most companies can’t afford to just raise wages for all workers unilaterally, something will have to give, just like it did at Amazon. Governor Murphy was either unaware of that as he heaped praise on Amazon, or he conveniently left that part out. I think it’s the latter. As has happened in too many cases when it comes to governor Murphy, you’re only hearing half the story. I feel it’s my duty to give you the other side.

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