The Minimum Wage Is Too Damn Low

You're arguing over the definition of "value" by using the definition of "economic value." You should have said "economic value" from the beginning. There's different debates and opinions on the definition of economic value. It even talks about it in the link you posted.

Fair and suitable applies to both parties when it comes to value. You're talking about "Economic Value" which is not the same as market price and market value because if a consumer is willing to buy a good it implies that the customer places a higher value on that good than the market price, which may have nothing to do with what's fair and suitable.

Actually the poor have done more for Wal-Mart than Wal-Mart has done for them. And a lot of poor people have to shop at Wal-Mart (particularly in rural and small areas) because Wal-Mart has smothered and ran out much of the competition. And it can be argued that many of these super companies are a big part of inflation but yet don't want to raise the pay of their employees to survive in the situation they are helping create.

I'm not debating that minimum wage should go up... I'm saying that many of these super companies like Wal-Mart can afford to pay their employees more than what they are especially with the major tax breaks they get and monopolies they are allowed to have. I wouldn't say the same about a small business owner who doesn't get the same tax breaks. There is no excuse for these companies to pay their employees like a small struggling business owner... That puts more of a burden on the taxpayers.

 

Except when poor people don't make minimum wage anymore because it's cheaper to replace them with robots.

 

At some point and I don't think it is that far in future most jobs can be replaced with robots and software. Pretty soon the computers will be able to be able to create their own software. What is the reason for people at that point.

 

If your job is to take and order and handle transactions, you will probably be out of a job in next decade or two. Phones and self checkout make it way too convenient. Remember full service gas stations.

 

If that's where we ended up, with literally all work done by computers and robots, what economic system makes sense to have? People can't work in a value-added way any longer, so paying salaries doesn't make sense. How would you have capitalism? We're a long way from that point, but if we're heading in that direction in some aspects what lessons can we take from the end-state for dealing with the first problems that are now cropping up? You can say the no-skill laborers being replaced in the market now should increase their skills to be able to add value, but if the bar keeps moving higher and higher, won't more and more people get shut out?

 

it's not that the minimum wage is too low... its inflation is too high. Once you start raising everything.. it just makes inflation worse. It snowballs into what we have now. Time to reset with robots and have these low level employees find another job to market their $15/hr skills.

 

You should deny people clenaing a toilet a respectable wage now, because at some point in the future, toilet bot will clean it for them. This of course leaves open the fact that toilet bot isn't currently a viable substitute, so penalize peopel now because something something future.

Computers will replace EVERYBODY in the future in theory, Doctors Lawyers, Indian Chiefs - the whole 9 yards. So nobody should get paid anything ever. Because, computers and robots.

This kind of nonsensical argument is about what you'd expect from a wackjob inflation truther.

 

Inflation is still in a 7 year period of record lows, a fact that you remain ignorant ofdespite you having learned this the hard way previously.

I see why Ben Carson and Donald Trump are frontrunners now though. Sigh.

 

This is precisely correct.

I love when people say "just study STEM or learn to code" - "because computers/robots"

First, WTF do they think happens when everybody in the world can write java or ruby or whatever? It becomes less lucrative and useless.

Second, you know what computers and AI are currently really, really, really good at? Way way better, in fact, than things like Economics or anthropology?

They are good at things like Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

 

Basic Guaranteed Income is a possible solution. Or not. Some northern european country will eventually do an experiment with it, and we'll see how it goes.

With BGI there would still be some important market fundamentals in place, because the massive amount of money being distributed to the citizens would be spent- and the market would determine where the money goes (rather than the govt playing favorites, for example.)

 

We are actually at a pretty unique time in worldwide economic history where inflation has pretty much collapsed.

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