This is an extreme example which lacks any depth of insight. It would be like me arguing; why don't governments print loads more money and we will all be rich a

This is an extreme example which lacks any depth of insight. It would be like me arguing; why don't governments print loads more money and we will all be rich as my reason they should not print anymore than we have today. To stay on the money analogy; we want governments to print THE RIGHT amount of money. If they print too little the economy will suffer just as much as if they print too much. This is the same as a minimum wage. If it is too low it damages things like consumption and quality of life. Too much and it is damaging competitiveness etc. I would suggest the best answer to this whole debate is in empirical data. Look at countries that have similar economies low AND high minimum wages and see what works best on the majority of case. Also personal views weight this argument. My lean on this is argument is that a country should be run to give the largest amount of people the best quality of life possible. If you have no problem with a large poor/rich gap you could easily argue to keep minimum wage down. Also Germany doesn't have a minimum wage but has legally enforced collective bargaining. Companies don't just pay what they think people are worth. Your example is not really givings the full story by pointing out there is no statutory minimum wage. Their government has employed a different system to ensure wage levels meet workers needs and is nothing like giving companies carte blanche to pay poverty wages.