01-22-2019, 01:17 PM
"How does that compare with the amount conservative legislators pay their interns?"
Conservative legislators aren't trying to increase minimum wages that apply to small business owners but not to them.
"Minimum wage helps protect existing workers from the more ruthless aspects of capitalism."
Actually, it does the opposite. It eliminates all the mom and pop operators so that ruthless large corporations with well-funded lobbyists pushing their corporate agendas are the only ones left. Doesn't it make more sense to let the workers decide where they would like to work, and the wage they are willing to accept, instead of limiting their choices? The scenario you describe eventually whittles the number of employers down further and further until the labor pool is a proletariat who's only way out is socialism.
I do believe that some level of minimum wage is required but only up to the point that it prevents people from getting taken advantage of, or that being solely on public assistance is a better option. This level is far below a "living wage". A living wage is a form of prohibition. It prohibits an employer and potential employee from entering into an agreement without the blessing of the crown. And like all forms of prohibition, it comes with a black market. People working "under the table" and all that entails (human trafficking, etc).
ETA: last paragraph
Conservative legislators aren't trying to increase minimum wages that apply to small business owners but not to them.
"Minimum wage helps protect existing workers from the more ruthless aspects of capitalism."
Actually, it does the opposite. It eliminates all the mom and pop operators so that ruthless large corporations with well-funded lobbyists pushing their corporate agendas are the only ones left. Doesn't it make more sense to let the workers decide where they would like to work, and the wage they are willing to accept, instead of limiting their choices? The scenario you describe eventually whittles the number of employers down further and further until the labor pool is a proletariat who's only way out is socialism.
I do believe that some level of minimum wage is required but only up to the point that it prevents people from getting taken advantage of, or that being solely on public assistance is a better option. This level is far below a "living wage". A living wage is a form of prohibition. It prohibits an employer and potential employee from entering into an agreement without the blessing of the crown. And like all forms of prohibition, it comes with a black market. People working "under the table" and all that entails (human trafficking, etc).
ETA: last paragraph