The Minimum Wage and the S&P 500 February 11, 2014February 11, 2014 You’ve seen my argument for raising it: higher wages = greater demand = stronger economy = greater job growth = virtuous cycle Right? To which I append: stronger economy = higher tax revenues & lower safety-net payouts = lower deficits Well . . . for those who may be unconvinced, here is a rather more detailed analysis from the New York Times. And before you dismiss the editorial page of the Times — what do liberals know about growing an economy? — I would remind you that whether it be the contrast of FDR with Hoover or the contrast of Clinton with Bush or the contrast of Obama with the other Bush, it’s liberals who’ve grown the economy and invested in the future far more aggressively than conservatives. (Eisenhower was pretty great with the Interstate Highway, but he’d sure never make it through a Republican primary today.) The comparison of how Wall Street does under Democrats versus Republicans is even more striking. Invested in the S&P 500 only during Republican administrations since 1929, $10,000 would have grown to only about $12,000 — versus about $572,000 under Democrats (if I’ve updated the numbers since August 2012 right). Which is surely no proof that everything we liberals think about the economy is always right. But I think it’s grounds to think our views should not be dismissed out of hand, either.