Writing at The College Conservative, Vladimir Davidiuk says it’s time to examine the minimum wage and its impact on jobs.

It was unsurprising but disappointing to encounter an article titled “Raising Minimum Wage: An Issue of Maximum Importance“ in the March 6, 2014 edition of the University of St. Thomas student newspaper, The Summa. Given the target audience, one could hazard a guess that few university students could find fault with the author’s trite and threadbare conclusions, especially such gems as “the proposed bill is certainly popular,” and “we have an alarmingly low minimum wage,” and “change is needed.”

Sadly, there is no mention of the imposition created for employers who would be required to pay more for those of minimal skill. No mention of the cost imposed on businesses. But the most glaring example of cluelessness comes at the end of the penultimate paragraph, where the author states, mind-bogglingly; “[N]obody really knows exactly how things will go if the proposed Fair Minimum Wage Act passes.”

So why do it? Given that the author’s entire rationale for this particular effort at raising the minimum wage has thus been laid waste, let us instead examine the topic from the opposite pole: complete elimination of the minimum wage.

Consider, if you will, the effects of implementing a minimum wage in the first place. The immediate effect is negative for all involved. First, employers who are in the business of generating a profit see those profits cut. Keep in mind that profits are not a necessary evil, nor are they somehow an unjust distribution of the financial rewards of doing business. Profit is the prime motivating force for business in America. Profit is what motivates someone to invest their resources into a new company that they started in their garage in an effort to grow. Without that profit, there is no reason to engage in building new companies, producing goods, or hiring and paying workers. Take away profit, take away jobs.