In this clip from Morning Joe, the mayor of Los Angeles sits down to discuss how hiking the minimum wage to $15 is a positive benefit for the economy, creates jobs, and improves the lives of the citizens in a moral-economic win-win.

Mayor Eric Garcetti explains that there was massive joint support among a bipartisan coalition because “people realize there isn’t money on Main Street. People are working full time, businesses are suffering because people can’t go out to dinner, can’t buy things on Main Street, they can’t live! They can’t be home to help their kids do their homework…97% of people on minimum wage are over twenty.”

CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera acknowledged that there would be a minimum number of layoffs among very small businesses, and possible hikes in the prices of goods and services to make up for it, but the Mayor brings it home by saying that “What gets more expensive is when people take sick days, when people are working two or three jobs and we’re subsidizing poverty because people have to have after-school programs, because the parent’s cant be home to help their kids with homework. We’ve studied this very closely…we’ve reviewed three different studies that say we will net-gain jobs.”

It is far beyond time that the minimum wage was increased. The federal minimum wage has been stagnant for decades, and the working families of America have suffered grievously because of it. We’ve lost sight of what business is supposed to achieve- not only to make money, but also to provide workers with a purpose and a means to live. To engage with them as active members of society, not merely as names on a payroll sheet to be replaced at a moment’s notice.

Watch it here:

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