Mumpsimus

Apparently, Gary Becker and Richard Posner have an editorial in the 26 January 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal. They oppose an increase in the minimum wage:

"An increase in the minimum wage raises the costs of fast foods and other goods produced with large inputs of unskilled labor. Producers adjust both by substituting capital inputs and/or high-skilled labor for minimum-wage workers and, because the substitutes are more costly (otherwise the substitutions would have been made already), by raising prices. " -- Gary Becker and Richard Posner

I know about this editorial from posts from Frederic Sautet and Don Boudreaux. Both Sautet and Boudreaux endorse Becker and Posner's "reasoning". When will economists accept arithmetic?