> > This maybe leads to the question of why we should favor any business to continue operating in a space that may be a net negative contribution to our society

> > This maybe leads to the question of why we should favor any business to continue operating in a space that may be a net negative contribution to our society > What does the minimum wage have to do with contribution to society? Seven years ago, the McDonalds corporation issued memos to employees instructing on how to file for SNAP (food stamps). Rather than paying employees what they need to survive, McDonalds was effectively shifting that cost onto taxpayers. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/instead-living-wage-mcdonalds-tells-workers-sign-food-stamps/309625/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/instead... A system where jobs provide money to consumers who participate in the economy, pay into social security, etc. is one that makes a "positive contribution" to societal balance sheet. One that hoards its income and doesn't pay into the system costs society money, hence "a net negative". "Some businesses cannot be profitable and therefore will not exist at certain minimum wages, though." Right, but some businesses can pay minimum-wage-or-higher and be profitable, but the CEOs figured out that they can just keep that money for themselves and shift it onto the welfare system. This is why a lot of critics of modern capitalism claim that we already have socialism, we're just not doing it efficiently.