[claytongulick]

A high school kid needs to make a "living wage"?

This is the absurd argument I see made all over the place in favor of high minimum wages.

If $20 per hour is ok, why not $30? Or $50? Or $100? It would make everyone rich, right?

What's the problem?

Command economies don't work.

Laws like this are short sighted and the only effect is to devalue our currency even more.

[aaomidi]

> Command economies don't work.

Command economies were literally one of the golden ages of the American middle class. So no they do actually work.

Anyone who is working deserves a living wage. Otherwise we’re now helping companies hire people and not pay them enough for the work they do. These people don’t go away, they end up costing all tax payers more $.

Also, next time you go to a fast food place look and see how many of them are high schoolers. Maybe that’ll stop the strawman arguments.

[hellojesus]

> Also, next time you go to a fast food place look and see how many of them are high schoolers. Maybe that’ll stop the strawman arguments.

Have you considered that by increasing minimum wage so dramatically, high schoolers now need to compete with adults for the same positions, and they are now crowded out because they have less flexibility with their hours and schedules?

High schoolers may be willing to accept a lower wage for the same work, which would give them an advantage in hiring, but now they are barred from seeking it.

[aaomidi]

> High schoolers may be willing to accept a lower wage for the same work, which would give them an advantage in hiring, but now they are barred from seeking it.

The point of a government is to protect people from being exploited.

[hellojesus]

It is not exploitation if it's voluntary. The business cannot enslave the teenager. They can simply offer a wage and hope someone bites. If nobody bites, they either need to increase the offer or go without the labor.

[aaomidi]

> It is not exploitation if it's voluntary.

You know this view is wrong. You can argue the children working in mines in various countries is "fine" then with that argument.

No.

[hellojesus]

It is fine. I believe the Wagner Act, which prohibited child labor federally, is unconstitutional.

Everywhere child labor is a symptom of the poor. But I believe parents should have the ability to teach and labor their children as they see fit. Regulations against unsafe working conditions are fine, so long as they're implemented at the correct level, but the government deciding it knows better than the parent is always wrong.