My generation of frickin' idiots thinks that high wages for workers retards the economy and causes it to underperform. It's "intuitive" to them — they don't need facts or to know where to find them. All my friends and I felt that way in 1980 when we were 13.
The truth is that it is the wealth of the middle class, and the breadth of that wealth, that drives a strong economy. The wealth of the middle class creates spending power. The more people who have wealth, and the more diverse the makeup of the people who possess that spending power, the stronger and more active the economy is.
It makes sense. The more people who have enough money to spend on satisfying an expanse of wants beyond basic needs, the more demand there is for innovation in the economy — which then fuels economic expansion. The more diverse those wants are, the stronger the economy.
They want a return to American economic greatness like it used to be? Then let us return to exactly what Rep. Khanna proposes: a strong wage structure that creates enough wealth for the least amongst us to seek to satisfy their wants.
Our current economic revolution is fueled by the introduction of global manufacturing reducing cost of production, allowing for the introduction of new products that satisfy more wants at "affordable" prices — while at the same time our middle class wealth decreased.
That just sounds like a nightmare. It allows people to feel everything is OK even though they are poorer. It also needs study as to its long-term consequences to the population and economic position of the US.