Herman Cain Thinks Minimum Wage Requirements Are Unnecessary

In a statement that is sure to delight big business, presidential campaign and political noob Herman Cain stated to ThinkProgress' Lee Fang that the current laws preserving the minimum wage were unnecessary.

"FANG: Do you think the current minimum wage is too high or even necessary?

"CAIN: I don’t think the current minimum wage is necessary because most companies are paying higher than the minimum wage. Now you can’t say everybody’s paying higher than the minimum wage but a lot of companies [inaudible]"

This seems to be a sticking point for the GOP/Tea Party line, with Michele Bachmann voicing support for doing away with minimum requirements and Rick Perry blabbing about how great his solutions have been for the Texan economy (they have a low unemployment rate, but the vast majority of those jobs pay peanuts).

It begs the question: would eliminating the minimum wage requirements result in more jobs for Americans? Perhaps, but several obstacles to prosperity remain if we go that route: these low-paying jobs often require employees to work odd hours, making finding a better job very difficult.  It's also somewhat difficult to get new employers to give you a significant increase in pay, with one Facebook friend noting, "I've discovered that some places actually have a policy that won't let HR managers offer more than a 10% increase of a prospective employee's current wage."