3 ms·

Ah, the whole “minimum wage violates the NAP” angle. Unsurprising, unpersuasive. The idea that some people know better than us and want less money is frankly b

Ah, the whole “minimum wage violates the NAP” angle. Unsurprising, unpersuasive. The idea that some people know better than us and want less money is frankly bizarre. Perhaps that argument carries water for unionization, where workers do often vote against it, but deciding to be paid less because they know better than us? Ridiculous. Such an angle really ignores the extra leverage that large businesses have in poorer areas of America. If a Walmart in the next town drove all your mom & pop shops under because of a combination of low wages and economies of scale, what exactly are you going to do in order to get a better job? Part of the job of the government is to step in and reduce the risk of a coercion in these situations, and the minimum wage is part of that.

imgabe 5y ago
> The idea that some people know better than us and want less money is frankly bizarre. What is frankly bizarre is the belief that wages are just made up values that you can set to whatever you want, that they are completely disconnected from any notion of what value the work provides. Taking a $7 / hour job and demanding that people pay $15 per hour for it, does not magically transform it into creating $15 per hour of value, no matter how much you want it to. It will, however, transform it into a $0 per hour job, because nobody is going to pay $15 for something that is only worth $7. Businesses that fail to make these evil, exploitative things called "profits" cease to exist, and provide no jobs for anyone.
- ashtonkem 5y ago
  > Businesses that fail to make these evil, exploitative things called "profits" cease to exist, and provide no jobs for anyone. Good. If businesses require the state to subsidize their workers rent and food, they deserve to go out of business.
  - imgabe 5y ago
    The state could simply stop subsidizing rent and food. Businesses didn’t ask the state to do that.

imgabe 5y ago

> The idea that some people know better than us and want less money is frankly bizarre. What is frankly bizarre is the belief that wages are just made up values that you can set to whatever you want, that they are completely disconnected from any notion of what value the work provides. Taking a $7 / hour job and demanding that people pay $15 per hour for it, does not magically transform it into creating $15 per hour of value, no matter how much you want it to. It will, however, transform it into a $0 per hour job, because nobody is going to pay $15 for something that is only worth $7. Businesses that fail to make these evil, exploitative things called "profits" cease to exist, and provide no jobs for anyone.

ashtonkem 5y ago
> Businesses that fail to make these evil, exploitative things called "profits" cease to exist, and provide no jobs for anyone. Good. If businesses require the state to subsidize their workers rent and food, they deserve to go out of business.
- imgabe 5y ago
  The state could simply stop subsidizing rent and food. Businesses didn’t ask the state to do that.