The problem I have articles like these is that they create a false dichotomy. It's possible to have both. These two policies solve very different problems. T

The problem I have articles like these is that they create a false dichotomy. It's possible to have both. These two policies solve very different problems. The Basic Income supports the notion that it's not cool to force people to work for food, shelter, etc. The minimum wage is supported for a bunch of different reasons, most of which I disagree with. But the one I do agree with is that a minimum wage sets a floor on the marginal productivity of labor. This will force employees and employers to improve the productivity of labor - a win all around. I support the minimum wage because I think low wages are a result of humans behaving irrationally in the market. Employers usually don't think seriously enough about productivity improvements and many employees don't invest sufficiently in training and development to improve their marginal productivity. The problem I have with minimum wage legislation is that it too often takes place in a vacuum. Look even Marxist economists agree raising the minimum wage can lead to job losses, so let's prepare for that by investing in training programs (vo-tech and community college seem like good bets).