The purpose of minimum-wage is the same reason some large companies use 'foreign labor'---because it's a cheap way to get the work done. From the workers' point-of-view, minimum-wage work is for 'supplemental income' (meaning you do it when you don't have the skills for a full income or -the responsibilities that require a full income). I might not 'like' that (and would probably like it even less if I were not blessed with people who love me enough to keep a roof over my head), but it's "how the world works" under the "Log In"---'Quid pro Quo' ('this for that,' 'you get what you pay for'). And--if I were not so-blessed (or -lucky) to have people who love me--I would 'figure something out'---rent-controlled, Section 8 housing (where the rent is 'based on MY income' & doesn't go up), low-cost living (not going out to eat but once-or-twice-a-week (unless someone else is paying the check), using coupons and good deals where I can get `em), applying for grants to see me through while getting the education needed to get better pay. True,Log In that "No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country,” but I'd rather that my fellow countrymen were working for MORE than 'minimum!'
Well, in the Presidents defense he has tried more then once to get minimum wage higher, but Congress has stopped these efforts. I agree with you that people can't earn a living with just minimum wage. I have heard members of Congress talk about the Food Stamp program making comments like those on the program are lazy and don't want to work. I have to wonder if they have ever taken the time to go to a DES office to meet these people. I can honestly tell them having been there myself, that most of these individuals do have jobs but the jobs aren't paying them enough to get by. You know maybe if they did raise minimum wage to a high amount then maybe offices like DES wouldn't be so crowded with people needed help, just a thought.
If they don't want to pay people a living wage in the "cheap labour" sector, then they need to make education and other jobs more accessible. You can't tell people to "get off their asses" if you're pushing them down by the head.
The minimum wage is controlled by the states so it is up to the states to implement laws. Even with the minimum wage, some loophole allows restaurants to pay the staff below minimum wage, so you need to look at the businesses that decide on the wages and not the government. If there was no minimum wage then employers would exploit workers legally.
I doubt it. Workers are (in this context) little-more-than machines to the employers (as shown by the emergeance of Self-Checkout & ATMs etc.) If an employer CAN get workers for less than 'minimum wage,' he will; BUT that ability hinges on 'whether or not the workers can work anywhere else for better wages.' Doesn't it?
The problem with minimum wage (some of us are old enough to remember the days before minimum wage was so widespread) is that when you force a business to pay a higher wage, prices have to go up! This is one reason why we can't afford to buy anything in this country anymore! Another reason of course is the fact that the government is involved in housing, food, etc. When markets like housing, wages and food are artificially manipulated by an outside force, the results are disastrous in the long run! The entitlement programs need to stop and people need to be paid according to their worth in the marketplace.
