I co-introduced historic legislation to increase the minimum wage to $25. As someone who taught economics at Stanford, here is why it makes sense. The real minimum wage was $14 in 1968. Today it is half, but productivity has increased 2.5x. Instead of extractive capitalism, we need a free... enterprise system that pays workers what they are worth.show more

@jakeofthestreet I’ve got yet another, better idea… How about we deport 50 million illegal immigrants who corporations are choosing to pay DRASTICALLY LOWER WAGES to. Then we will see what happens when companies are forced to pay AMERICANS to work. How about that?

Why not $100/hour? If your economic theory is real then just increase it to infinity and we'll all magically be wealthy....

The new California Teenager, brought to you by @rokhanna and @CAgovernor

Your education failed you. Anyone who wants to understand economics - and learn why Ron’s proposal isn’t just ill-advised, it’s absolute lunacy - needs to read this:

$25/hr = $52,000/year for one full-time worker. Mississippi's median household income… $56,000. CBO scored $15/hr at 1.4 million jobs lost. $25 is 245% above today's $7.25. The "Stanford economist" pushing this was a visiting lecturer with no PhD, whose wife's family trust... - Made 35,000+ stock trades since he took office - $620 million in lifetime trades - $105 million in stock trades LAST YEAR. - Beat the S&P by 112% in 27 months - Bought Russian Yandex three weeks before Putin invaded Ukraine He IS the investor class. The minimum wage push is just the script for his presidential run.

The "real" minimum wage is always zero. Minimum wage laws are compulsory unemployment. They create no jobs, they only outlaw them. Big corporations love regulations like minimum wage laws because it prices out their smaller competitors with compliance costs.

“As someone who taught economics…”

As 'someone who taught economics at Stanford' you are a blithering idiot. What a waste of time and money.

The real minimum is $0.00, which is what 16,000 restaurant workers in California now earn after their "minimum wage" was increased to $20.00.

If you want folks to be paid what we’re worth you should stop taxing our income.

Productivity gains mostly come from capital, not magically from every worker. Machines, software, and systems make each worker more productive, but that doesn’t mean every job suddenly justifies a $25 wage. Mandating $25 ignores that distinction. You’re not raising productivity, you’re overriding it. Call it what it is price fixing that punishes low productivity workers first.

How many students from your econ class have asked for a refund? I'm guessing it's a bunch.

Prices rise, hours cut, hiring slows, more kiosks, unmanned services expand, closing of businesses. Companies and Employers aren’t just going to eat those costs for your fair wage, unrealistic bullshit you economic illiterate retard.

Free enterprise doesn’t exist when a government is setting a minimum wage. Your inabilities not to see the hypocrisy of your argument is startling.

Stanford seeing this

Wrong answer, Mr. “I taught economics at Stanford.” 🥴 The right answer is to fix the fraud, imprison the fraudsters (and those in power who allowed it to happen), deport every single illegal and their anchor babies, and never vote for another democrat ever-again. Then-real Americans could get jobs and afford food. We don’t need to raise the minimum wage. We just need corrupt lying assholes like you out of government altogether. You do nothing but lie, complain, and introduce stupid shit like this.

You know what would be even better, end this so the younger generations have a shot at the American Dream. America has plenty of talent within our own borders.

Amazon and Walmart approve this message as it puts their competition out of business. Why raise wages instead of lower prices through deregulation and free trade, increasing the purchasing power of workers?

I teach introductory economics not at Stanford, but I have attended Stanford. This would be a failing answer in an econ course, and you're smart enough to realize that. This answer tells us a lot about what you think about voters.

Productivity hasn’t increased 25% in the sectors where minimum wage is offered. You are purposely speaking to the uneducated in language that sounds authoritative. The mountain of unemployed and business closures this will cause will solely be because of this proposal. You will usher in a productivity increase through automation, meaning less jobs.

We have a fiat currency. So if you do this the cost of a trip to Taco Bell will simply increase to $25 and a starter home to $1 million dollars.

I like you, Ro Khanna, but this doesn’t make sense. Pretty much no economist thinks the optimal minimum wage is 25 dollars an hour. That’s the median minimum wage in some counties, maybe even higher. Absolutely no way this would not cause serious employment shocks.

"Free enterprise" and wage controls in the same sentence 😭 delete your account

Since AI robots will work for less, you are legislating humans out of work. You can ban the robots here, but you can't ban them worldwide, so labor will migrate to robots in foreign lands.

Please don't California the rest of the country 🙏

He wants Rocialism. Let’s not. And why can’t the radical progressives understand that the real minimum wage is always $0.

You are so CHEAP! The minimum wage should be $500 an hour. Take the money from billionaires. I can't believe you only want it or be $25 an hour. Please tell me why it can't be $500 an hour. Anyone?

your not qualified to run a 711, hack!

You are an embarrassment for Stanford

Damn this guy taught economics at Stanford and doesn’t understand basic economics. Really devalues the institution.

an economics professor pushing a $25 minimum wage pretty much explains the state of the country lol

Bro, how can you have taught economics yet still push this retarded policy? Have fun creating more self-checkouts.

Learn to power wash

You just invalidated the degrees of anyone who took your class