FWIW, minimum wage could be shown to be basically positive and not cause all the unemployment people speak of and still be problematic. The issue with minimum w

FWIW, minimum wage could be shown to be basically positive and not cause all the unemployment people speak of and still be problematic. The issue with minimum wage isn't that it rejects supply-and-demand (that's simplistic thinking), it's that it is means-tested. Minimum wage doesn't directly help independent contractors or self-employed folks… We need a Universal Basic Income and then to get rid of welfare and minimum wage and such. But seeing as that won't happen soon, there's a very interesting positive aspect to minimum wage: People working for only social reasons such as volunteers or unpaid apprenticeships have a different psychosocial relationship to their situation than those who are paid an hourly wage. It's far better to be paid nothing than to be paid 10¢ an hour. Paid nothing means everyone acknowledges that you are volunteering your time, and it doesn't mean you are worthless. Paid 10¢ means you are worth 10¢. This has been studied by folks like Dan Ariely. So, a minimum wage requires that people's time have a dignified enough value put on it, and anything less you must work with them on a volunteer, social basis. I still think it has problems and UBI is better, but this issue of dignified pay should be appreciated.