[Hugh R]

Originally Posted by widebody911

I do not think this is true. This argument assumes that if someone is flipping burgers they're either a wet-behind-the-ears teenager or being punished for some poor life choice or just not being bright in general.

So they should get paid more for poor life choices?

Not everyone is going to be an engineer, rocket surgeon, or podiatrist.

Nope, they aren't, should they get paid like one?

In reality, there are more people of working age than there are "good-paying" jobs.

And when you raise the min. wage, there will be even less "good-paying" jobs.

Does it really seem fair that someone can work 8 hours a day and yet not make enough for food & housing?

Not the employer's problem, especially employers in Carmichael, CA. If you can't afford to live in the area, you should move to a place where you can afford to live on what you earn.

As a mental exercise, imagine what would happen if everyone had a degree. Then what? You'll have guys with college degrees doing menial jobs... Hey wait! We already have that. Hell, some companies require a degree even for low-level jobs, and they get away with it because they know there's a glut of talent.

Again, a higher minimum wage will make this glut worse.

People say raising the minimum wage will run smaller companies out of business; is any company really entitled to cheap labor? The exact same argument was used in defense of slavery: if slavery were abolished, it would put plantations out of business and make the US economically vulnerable to other countries.

Slavery isn't the same thing by a long shot, you can leave your employer for a better paying job.

If your company can't afford to pay your employees enough, maybe you shouldn't be in business.

What is paid enough, what if you make min. wage and have a non-working wife and four kids, maybe you should have kept it in your pants if you can't afford that family in the first place.

I also don't think you can have a discussion about minimum wage and the employment rate without bringing up the topic of the visa programs to bring in (legal) low-wage indentured servants from other countries to bridge imaginary skill gaps.

Submitted for your consideration.