4 ms·

Agreed. I read "Laws dictating the minimum wage and regulating child labor play a significant role in preventing young people from finding jobs" and rolled my e

• hga 17y ago
  OK, so tell me why we don't have movie ushers anymore. Price controls always produce shortages; in this case, there's a whole bunch of jobs companies just can't afford to hire people to do any more because the total cost of labor is higher than the return. Is this so hard to understand? Is it a moral position to tell an unemployed youth that if they can't get a job at $X wage there's better off without one? Have you looked a youth unemployment rates, especially recently?
  • bwh2 17y ago
    Well, first of all, you're using the phrase "youth employment," which I think is reasonable and fairly normal. The author used the phrase "child labor," which I rolled my eyes at because the author is seemingly oblivious to the negative connotation of that phrase. Second, I'm not even necessarily in favor of a minimum wage. I just think it's bogus to blame our current economic woes on the existence of minimum wage. It's a bogeyman that the right attacks at every opportunity, whether it makes sense or not. Edit: Also, you haven't provided any evidence supporting the claim that we don't have movie ushers because of minimum wage or labor laws. You've just provided ideological conjecture and arbitrarily placed the burden of proof on me.
    • Semiapies 17y ago
      It's legally "child labor" until you're 18.
    • bwh2 17y ago
      Right, it's legally "child labor." But would you use that phrase in normal conversation as though it doesn't have an uncomfortable, negative connotation?
      • Semiapies 17y ago
        If I were referring to child labor laws in a blog post, as he was, probably. If I come up with some weasel words for them, anyone paying attention will pounce on that, suspecting my "real" agenda is to put orphans dressed in rags on treadmills.
        • bwh2 17y ago
          This is kind of my point. I rolled my eyes when the author complained about "Laws... regulating child labor." You said, "child labor laws," which I would argue has a significantly different meaning than the authors phrase. But I'm comfortably agreeing to disagree on the connotation. Perhaps I would have understood the author's point more had he even bothered to explain what laws regulating child labor he was talking about and why they're a problem. Instead, he just skipped that and focused on minimum wage.
          • Semiapies 17y ago
            I think that's a fair point; detail on which child labor laws he meant would strengthen his argument.