| Aielyn said: It's better that the people who are working make enough money from their work to live on. |
And how much money it takes for a wage to be livable it determined by the economy. Whatever moderate impact a small raise might have on the life of someone who makes minimum wage will be offset by the rise in the cost of living that results from the rise of the cost of labor. You can't simply legislate everyone out of wage slavery.
| Aielyn said: The suggestion that a company will be unable to employ as many people if they're forced to pay $10 an hour is just absurd. If companies do lay people off because of the raise in the minimum wage, then the fault lies with those companies - either their business model relies on paying peanuts to workers, or their business is poorly structured to begin with, or they're just plain greedy. |
No one suggested that a company will be absolutely unable to employ as many people. Although some are bound to be unable to do so, it doesn't really matter which of the reasons you listed (or didn't list) are at play. It's merely a fact of life that unemployment will go up and it will be even harder for younger, less experienced workers to find jobs than it already is, and crying about greed isn't going to change this simple fact.
| Aielyn said: Also keep in mind that, by raising the minimum wage, you increase the ability of such employees to pay for things that aren't utter necessities, thus boosting the economy further, resulting in greater revenue, which enables companies to employ more workers. |
You also destroy earning power by making things cost more, so how much of an economic boost there really is is, at the very least, highly debatable. Especially since most people already make more than minimum wage, so they won't be getting a raise even as you're now driving up the cost of living.
| Aielyn said: The black-and-white attitude of so many people to such complex issues bugs the hell out of me. The world isn't so black-and-white, so linear. There is an optimum minimum wage value - it's some value that will maximise the results for everyone. Set it lower, and companies might be able to hire more workers, but those workers will be worse off, dragging down the economy. Set it higher, and it starts to negatively impact companies' bottom lines even after factoring in economic impacts. |
And who decides that $10/hour or whatever is "optimal"? As always, the market decides this stuff way better than politicians, who are always hellbent on trying to fit a round peg into a square hole for political gain and/or to fit their ignorant worldviews.
