2 ms·

If your "business" cannot pay a person 3x [0] the going rate for an appropriate rental property in the market where it operates, then it has no reason to exist

If your "business" cannot pay a person 3x [0] the going rate for an appropriate rental property in the market where it operates, then it has no reason to exist other than to extract profit from the labor of the people you hire. Minimum wage laws would not stop you from selling your services as a programmer at any rate you want to. [0] and yes, current minimum wages in most places in the US are actually far below even this threshold.

WalterBright 2y ago
Definitely, making $0 is better than making $10.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
  A system that allows you to make $10 when you actually need $30 to live is also a system that will frequently go to significant lengths to make sure you never make $30.
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    Giving them $20 in welfare is more practical than $30 in welfare, and the $10 in productivity is lost as well. I.e. minimum wage produces more of a burden on social services to take care of the unemployed.
RiverCrochet 2y ago
> then it has no reason to exist other than to extract profit from the labor of the people you hire. My cousin's lovely response: "So the business paying the insufficient wage and the landlord are not the same entity. The business's job is to run a business, not worry about if landlords are getting paid. It's unfair and inefficient to make businesses submit to the demands of greedy landlords in this manner. Maybe governments could step in and protect businesses but I'm unsure of the best way to do that." Personally I think if we have a system of private ownership then charging whatever I want for rent is my right and the government should not be able to force me against my will, otherwise all property is really the governments. But I think there are grey areas when we talk about corporate/institutional property owners.
- PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
  That's not a lovely response. It's a simplistic response that totally misses the point. The cost of rent is a function of many different factors, which vary depending on location in space and time. Some of the time that may include greed on the part of landlords, some of the time that may play a very minor role. Your own response is similarly simplistic. The meaning of "property" is defined by government, at all times and in all places. The precise meaning varies, but there being limits on what rights it comes with is not a violation of your "property rights" - it is actually the very definition of what property means.

WalterBright 2y ago

Definitely, making $0 is better than making $10.

PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
A system that allows you to make $10 when you actually need $30 to live is also a system that will frequently go to significant lengths to make sure you never make $30.
- WalterBright 2y ago
  Giving them $20 in welfare is more practical than $30 in welfare, and the $10 in productivity is lost as well. I.e. minimum wage produces more of a burden on social services to take care of the unemployed.

RiverCrochet 2y ago

> then it has no reason to exist other than to extract profit from the labor of the people you hire. My cousin's lovely response: "So the business paying the insufficient wage and the landlord are not the same entity. The business's job is to run a business, not worry about if landlords are getting paid. It's unfair and inefficient to make businesses submit to the demands of greedy landlords in this manner. Maybe governments could step in and protect businesses but I'm unsure of the best way to do that." Personally I think if we have a system of private ownership then charging whatever I want for rent is my right and the government should not be able to force me against my will, otherwise all property is really the governments. But I think there are grey areas when we talk about corporate/institutional property owners.

PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
That's not a lovely response. It's a simplistic response that totally misses the point. The cost of rent is a function of many different factors, which vary depending on location in space and time. Some of the time that may include greed on the part of landlords, some of the time that may play a very minor role. Your own response is similarly simplistic. The meaning of "property" is defined by government, at all times and in all places. The precise meaning varies, but there being limits on what rights it comes with is not a violation of your "property rights" - it is actually the very definition of what property means.