Does a 'minimum wage' conflict with the principle of private property and 'free

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   cjhunsingerposted 9 years ago

   Does a 'minimum wage' conflict with the principle of private property and 'free enterprise'?
   
   Should a person be paid for their labors according to their effort and the market or by a government mandate?

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   Fred Arnoldposted 9 years ago

   Well, this is more of an ethical question. Is it right for an employer to pay really low wages to employees that they can not live on? If an employer was able to go off of the work that is output by an employee then you might see even lower wages than those that are minimum wage. Also, what defines "effort" in the work place? That is very subjective. Minimum wage is there to protect peoples rights. Corporations already have a lot of power over their employees so why grant them the ability to assess what constants "effort"? That is a question that should be judged by the people. So no, I would say a minimum wage does not affect free enterprise. First, enterprise is not above the rights of man. Second, corporations already can step their bounds when it comes to those rights so limiting them is necessary.  And third, a fully free enterprise only exists in theoretical capitalism so accepting it in today's complex society will break down the system into an unworkable machine.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Fred-What Rights (Constitution) are being protected by a govt mandated wage? As a people, I should be able to judge your 'effort'? Do you promote a socialist agenda?

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      Fred Arnoldposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Again, you follow a trend of not thinking ethically. If people have a right to life then they have the right to earn a wage that allows them to live properly in our society. A business should not be able to mandate what they believe people are worth.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Fred--The Right to life leaves you free to achieve or fail. A right to a guaranteed wage promotes, at best, mediocrity and achievement is by definition of a government.

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      Fred Arnoldposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      And what about someone not having a fair chance to actually succeed? You are using fallacy to justify your point. Correlation does not prove causation.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Fred-Define fair. A mandated set of parents. A mandated upbringing. A mandated intelligence. Mandated ambition. A mandated level of achievement for all?

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      Fred Arnoldposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Why must I define fair? Do you believe a corporation should define what is fair? How are parents mandated? Do you believe pushing society to be more intelligent is a bad thing? Do you think achievement for all is bad? Again, more fallacy.

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      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Fred-You asserted "fair", that you cannot or will not provide a definition leaves you no argument.

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      Fred Arnoldposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      "You asserted "fair", that you cannot or will not provide a definition leaves you no argument". Again you use fallacy to try and prove a point. Try and think objectively rather than biased and I will continue the conversation.

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