Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and Democrats gotta call for increases in the minimum wage. Republicans, it seems, continue to struggle for a response that can compete with “Give America a Raise.” Radio host John Batchelor, God bless him, interviewed Allan Meltzer, professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon, who asked why the Democrats were “so stingy.” If wages can be dictated by government without consequences to the economy, why stop at $15 per hour. Why not $25 or $250?

I like Michael Strain’s idea: Let’s reduce the minimum wage for the long-term unemployed. Two years ago, Strain, of the American Enterprise Institute, recommended a reduced minimum wage as an incentive to employers to take a chance on people who’d been unemployed for a long time. It was part of a basket of proposals to enhance work and growth. Reihan Salam quoted this paragraph:

There are steps the government can take to help today’s unemployed: Offering relocation vouchers to the long-term unemployed in high-unemployment areas; allowing firms to hire the long-term unemployed at less than the current minimum wage and supplementing their income with an EITC-like payment; reforming our disability insurance program so that it doesn’t serve as a permanent exit from the labor market; publicizing and encouraging worksharing as an alternative to layoffs; getting the government off the backs of entrepreneurs; reducing occupational licensing requirements; encouraging domestic energy production; providing lump-sum bonus payments to unemployed workers who find a job; and more. Some of these suggestions involve more government action; some involve the government getting out of the way; all should be considered.

A big dose of tax reform would help too. As for a competing slogan: “Give America Jobs.”