4 ms·

Wages are not set by a company, they're set by the supply and demand of the market. Adding a minimum wage just criminalizes hiring anyone who is not productive

Wages are not set by a company, they're set by the supply and demand of the market. Adding a minimum wage just criminalizes hiring anyone who is not productive enough to economically justify the minimum. It hurts unskilled poor people the most.

abdullahkhalids 1y ago
Minimum wage is supposed to represent the minimum wage necessary for a worker to meet their basic human needs. If you don't have a minimum wage, some people get paid below this level, and they somehow struggle along in poverty. But there is no real incentive for the state to help them. Establish a minimum wage. Now these people are unemployed. Which contributes to the unemployment percentage. Causes the government to lose votes. The state has to pay out unemployment benefits to these people. The govt+state now have real incentives to change the structure of economy to ensure jobs are created for these people that are productive enough to justify the minimum wage.
- AtlasBarfed 1y ago
  But available labor is available labor, for new businesses. I don't understand why people sit around saying oh the minimum wage is going to increase unemployment and therefore treat minimum wage legislation as apostasy, but some radical new technology which results in a lot of unemployment is just the economy getting more efficient and it will absorb all the excess labor with new enterprises. Is there something about minimum wage legislation that makes the labor completely unusable? Wouldn't it be equally as temporary as some large efficiency gain in the economy?
claudiulodro 1y ago
If people are working full time yet still in poverty, they will need government services like food stamps. In this scenario your tax dollars subsidize businesses that pay poverty wages. Wal Mart is the top employer of SNAP and Medicaid recipients. You would rather subsidize Wal Mart’s margins with your tax dollars?
- bofadeez 1y ago
  I think the role of government is limited to that of protecting constitutional rights of citizens. People in impoverished countries live with extended family and share income and get along just fine. We shouldn't violate rights of individuals to facilitate a welfare program. That should be handled by families, communities, religious institutions, etc.
  - abenga 1y ago
    That is your opinion. The role of government should be whatever the citizens decide through democratic processes. If they want the government to go around feeding people from milk bottles, that is what it will be. If they decide it is to run the fight club that decides who eats and who dies, that will be its role. Americans have decided that the role of government is going to be closer to the second than the first, as is their right. Other countries lie in a different points in the continuum, but they are not any more wrong.
    - bofadeez 1y ago
      Yeah it's the opinion of the western world. "We hold these truths to be self evident" is the preamble. These truths are not self evident to other cultures. Like yours
      - abenga 1y ago
        What Western world? European countries have decent social safety nets administered by the government.
        slipperydippery 1y ago
        They're just trolling. This is far too silly a line of argument to treat seriously.

abdullahkhalids 1y ago

Minimum wage is supposed to represent the minimum wage necessary for a worker to meet their basic human needs. If you don't have a minimum wage, some people get paid below this level, and they somehow struggle along in poverty. But there is no real incentive for the state to help them. Establish a minimum wage. Now these people are unemployed. Which contributes to the unemployment percentage. Causes the government to lose votes. The state has to pay out unemployment benefits to these people. The govt+state now have real incentives to change the structure of economy to ensure jobs are created for these people that are productive enough to justify the minimum wage.

AtlasBarfed 1y ago
But available labor is available labor, for new businesses. I don't understand why people sit around saying oh the minimum wage is going to increase unemployment and therefore treat minimum wage legislation as apostasy, but some radical new technology which results in a lot of unemployment is just the economy getting more efficient and it will absorb all the excess labor with new enterprises. Is there something about minimum wage legislation that makes the labor completely unusable? Wouldn't it be equally as temporary as some large efficiency gain in the economy?

claudiulodro 1y ago

If people are working full time yet still in poverty, they will need government services like food stamps. In this scenario your tax dollars subsidize businesses that pay poverty wages. Wal Mart is the top employer of SNAP and Medicaid recipients. You would rather subsidize Wal Mart’s margins with your tax dollars?

bofadeez 1y ago
I think the role of government is limited to that of protecting constitutional rights of citizens. People in impoverished countries live with extended family and share income and get along just fine. We shouldn't violate rights of individuals to facilitate a welfare program. That should be handled by families, communities, religious institutions, etc.
- abenga 1y ago
  That is your opinion. The role of government should be whatever the citizens decide through democratic processes. If they want the government to go around feeding people from milk bottles, that is what it will be. If they decide it is to run the fight club that decides who eats and who dies, that will be its role. Americans have decided that the role of government is going to be closer to the second than the first, as is their right. Other countries lie in a different points in the continuum, but they are not any more wrong.
  - bofadeez 1y ago
    Yeah it's the opinion of the western world. "We hold these truths to be self evident" is the preamble. These truths are not self evident to other cultures. Like yours
    - abenga 1y ago
      What Western world? European countries have decent social safety nets administered by the government.
      - slipperydippery 1y ago
        They're just trolling. This is far too silly a line of argument to treat seriously.