Jason Calacanis Now Supports Raising the Minimum Wage: People Making Under $40K Spend 100% of Their Income and 'Save Nothing'

Jason Calacanis, a venture capitalist known for his free-market views, says the data has convinced him to support raising the minimum wage. In a series of posts on X, he explained why he abandoned his long-held belief that wages should be left entirely to the market.

“I changed my mind on minimum wage after reviewing the data,” Calacanis wrote. “I used to believe in letting the free market handle it, like most of you.”

Calacanis pointed to California’s minimum wage increase for fast-food workers as a key reason for his shift. He said the move raised consumer prices by only about 1% to 2%, while the widely predicted wave of restaurant closures and automation never materialized.

“There was zero downside,” he wrote, noting that restaurants didn’t close and jobs didn’t disappear. He said similar patterns appeared in Australia and in U.S. cities that have raised their minimum wages.

Calacanis now argues that the lowest-paid Americans should see their wages rise steadily over the next decade — from $12 to $15, then $20 and eventually $25 an hour.

His case isn’t based solely on helping workers. He thinks higher wages can also benefit companies, because lower-income Americans tend to spend every extra dollar they receive.

“Individuals earning under $40,000 a year spend 100% of their income,” Calacanis wrote. “They save nothing.”

That money, he said, flows directly back into businesses like Amazon, McDonald’s, Apple, DoorDash and Uber. In economic terms, higher wages increase “monetary velocity” — money changes hands more quickly through the economy.

Economists have long debated the employment effects of minimum-wage hikes. While some studies find modest job losses, others have concluded that higher wages can reduce turnover and boost productivity. California’s fast-food experience is still relatively new, but early data has not shown the dire outcomes critics predicted.

Calacanis does see one potential downside from substantially higher minimum wages: fewer opportunities for teenagers. He argued that teenage workers often aren’t worth $15 to $20 an hour to employers and that higher minimum wages depress those jobs. He suggested keeping teenagers at a lower rate.

In an earlier post, Calacanis said that minimum wage increases have had “exceptional results over the past two decades” and added that the gains to society have been substantial while the effect on consumers and businesses has been small and easily absorbed.

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