Originally posted by: Nebor
Originally posted by: Craig234
Originally posted by: dehemke
#1, maybe you shouldn't be raising a family on 10/hour.
#2, a fair price is whatever price the worker demands.
If you offer to mow my lawn for $5, why should some third party deny you the right to do so?
We have a group in this country of crazy ideologues, who can be spotted by this sort of twisted phrasing.
The minimum wage protects people from the fact that they have to eat and we'd return to days of misery and suffering without these protections, because the power of the employer is higher than that of a lot of workers. The minimum wage works well for what it does, and shuld be kept and raised.
It's not about, in your twisted phrase, the 'right of the guy to mow your lawn for $5', it's about his right not to be exploited and get a wage above poverty.
Our nation needs to do more to educate people to get rid of this massive ideological craziness.
I guess they'll need to stop teaching Economics. In the scenario laid out, the lawn mower is being compensated above his economic cost. The home owner is being forced to shop in a market crippled by a price floor. Ineffiency abounds.
Economics is just one factor in the equation.
How about we raise our kids by economics - if the kids from the time of birth don't provide us with something of value, they starve, tough crap.
'Oh, that's ridiculous'. Yes, and so are the things you types are willing to do do adults in the name of economics.
Economics has a very important role to play in our system, but it's not the only thing.
Let me put it simply:
Economics serves man, man does not serve economics. When economics serves man, use it. When it doesn't, feel free to choose things that 'don't make economic sense', as long as they make *practical* sense. Where's the sense in our providing more for the severely disabled, does example? Economics says get rid of them. Human values say otherwise.
You talk about the value of the mowing. That's fine when you're negotating many things, it's not fine for other things.
The minimum wage has an excellent balancing effect for the blind economics that could care less if you are eating dog food.
I'm not talking about providing things that are impractical - 'hey, why don't we buy everyone a tv'. I'm talking about a balanced approach to help meet essential needs that are either a good investment and/or a moral benefit that we can afford, when needed because the economic system lacks any of those 'human values'.