Quote:
Originally Posted by RummyBoy
Me? I wouldn't take a job paying $5/hour and no-one is forcing me to do so but at least I should have the freedom of choice.
I just use the UK as an example but it applies to many western countries.
I don't understand this argument at all. Free market determines the price of commodities and goods, why not also labour? It was like that for 1000's of years in all countries and worked perfectly well. Main problem with minimum wage:
(1) It makes unemployable all people whose labor is not worth the minimum wage and because those people claim benefits, it increases the national debt.
(2) It makes it impossible for thin profit margin businesses which rely on cheap labor costs to operate. In some cases, they hire in Asia to solve that problem.
(3) It raises the price of all goods & services produced by such labor which in turn makes it hard for that company to compete with the company that gets cheaper labor abroad, forcing the losing company to do the same in order to improve their competitiveness.
MINIMUM WAGE is a total disaster...!
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That sum thing was about the incentive. You assumed that other people wouldn't have incentive to work if they would get that 100 UK pounds per week. That I was wondering.
Minimum wage is not a big problem, as the cost of living sets the actual minimum, not minimum wage. Minimum wages are already so minimum that it doesn't have any real impact.
About national debt, it is not caused because of unemployed people, it is caused because nation's expences are greater than income, for any reason(s), like for not collecting enough taxes.
Also, modern kind of outsourcing to "cheap countries" is just temporary phase. There will of course be differences, but not like now. These cheap wages are essentially exploiting people's poor status, and it will lessen as people/ countries improve their situation. And it is ethical dilemma also, so that alone may have changes, as it already has.