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by PhasmaFelis 4410 days ago
The notion that minimum wage isn't supposed to provide a living is a good way to keep adults and the children they support in abject poverty. That's a little more important than teenagers who want after-school jobs for pocket money.
1 comments
grinnbearit 4410 days ago
Why push that burden on the job creators? If the labour value someone provides is lower than a living wage, why not let them survive on welfare (food + clothing + shelter)

If this isn't happening, I'd think its more important to provide those basic amenities rather than raising the minimum wage.

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PhasmaFelis 4409 days ago
Well, for one thing, welfare funding ultimately comes from tax money, and those noble job creators fight tooth and nail against social benefit programs just as they do against minimum wage increases, and anything else that threatens to make the world a better place at a cost to their bottom line.

The US in particular suffers under an entrenched and insidious myth that work is inherently virtuous and people who can't work deserve to starve. Reagan's imaginary legions of welfare queens have taken root in our national dialogue and made widespread, substantial improvements to public welfare virtually impossible. If you feel that progressives are grasping at straws, it's because that's all we have left.

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grinnbearit 4409 days ago
Well it is their income being taxed, why do you feel they should feel obligated to give a portion of it up? (keyword: obligated) they obviously do not.
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PhasmaFelis 4408 days ago
Because I would like to live in a functional society. Because "my right to a third yacht trumps your right to feed your children and get treatment for preventable illnesses" is a shitty thing to believe. Because I think the members of a society have a positive responsibility to each other and to the society. Because, basically, I don't like selfish assholes, not matter how much they try to convince me that selfishness is a virtue.

It's not a popular opinion, I realize.

And before you start talking about "other people's money," I'm comfortably middle-class, and I would be delighted to pay an extra, say, 20% of my income in taxes if it meant that the sick or homeless or mentally ill people I see every day could get the care that they need.

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grinnbearit 4408 days ago
Popular opinion or not, selfishness and generosity are calibrated by your moral values.

You're proposing an economic transaction where X pays, Y benefits and your moral desires are fulfilled. I doubt X would have a problem with you donating 20% of your income to a charity of your choice, why do you have a problem with their yacht?

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