Yes, agreed. Let me provide my perspective. I have owned businesses. In my last business, my wife and I broke our backs to make sure people were paid as well as we possibly could and still try to remain a thriving enterprise. It was important to us that the people who sweated with us, put their trust in us, and helped us in our mission were taken care of in every way possible. Many individuals - and this is no exaggeration, joke or lie - made more than my wife and I combined. Eventually, yes, the goal was to make a good living. Which is as it should be, since my family's ass was on the line; but coming from where we come from, we are aware what it is to work for others. I have worked more shit jobs for shit wages than I care to remember. Starting at 15, when I left home and school, I worked digging landscape ditches, fried my hands with hot-mop tar (nothing like 600F+ to keep your mind on the job and not the hot summery, willowy creature waltzing down the beach - true story), blasted the hell out of my leg with the wrong end of a sandblast hose, and generally proved to myself I didn't ever want to do this work again. So I woke up, eventually, went to college, and learned the value of a good education. I have also known how hard it is to stay afloat trying to own your own business, enduring the delicate dance that must be performed to pay people well enough, while working to ensure you can stay alive in order to continue to do just that. Why am I saying all this? Because I have rarely found people are any one thing. Presuming so leads nowhere.
Why are you arguing how it might be bad for business to pay less than minimum wage or that it is mean? That is not what is in question with minimum wage, what is in question is is it ethical for a government to decide how little or how great an ammount of money an individual can make?
I don't think there is any limit on how much you can make Do you think if businesses can find handicapped people and convince them to work for like $2 an hour, thats good?
Let me rephrase, how little or how great an ammount of money a working individual can make. There are limits to how much a working person can make through minimum wage and huge taxes. No, I don't think it's good but it doesn't matter what I think; what matters is what the business owner thinks.
If I had a nickle for every DP post that was sent a little askew I would be on Mr. Gates's back right now.
what obstacles? Obstacles to make less then $5.15 an hour? what about the employees? why is one business owners opionion more valued then all his employees?
So the employees should be able to force their employer into paying them what they want? An agreement is made between the two parties about pay and the government should not interveen. Violent crimes that impose upon other peoples right to life(declaration of independence...) are far different from your opinion on what employees should get payed. So you want laws against them?
As this was a thoughtful post...you might want to recall The Jungle by Sinclair. I am not comparing the check out girl at Walmart/wherever to a slaughterhouse employee, but those less fortunate need some protection.