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In reply to the discussion: Fast food jobs in Denmark pay living wage [View all]R.Quinn
(122 posts)Last edited Wed Oct 29, 2014, 01:06 PM - Edit history (1)
But you're making some assumptions that just aren't true. You carry on as if everyone MUST work for someone else, and that ALL of the available employers are going to pay crap wages just because they can. These premises are both false because (1) you can be self-employed, and (2) as of right now, the vast majority of working Americans are making MORE than minimum wage.
How do you think small businesses and innovative entrepreneurs ever get started? It's because people want to work for themselves and/or see a demand that the current market is not meeting. You don't like what you're getting paid? You're unhappy with the market's current offerings? Start your own business and pay yourself (and anyone you hire) whatever you think is appropriate. It's that simple, and it happens all the time. That's how healthy competition is created. Except...
...based on your previous statements, it appears that you're not a fan of competition. You claim that laws "establish fairness rules". This may be one of the widest-spread economic misconceptions of all time. When rules and regulations are passed on businesses, they never hurt large corporations like Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart already has the capital to absorb whatever costs those regulations create. You know who suffers? The little guy. The mom-and-pop business. The locally-owned store that has been family-run for generations. These small businesses get run into the ground by rules to the point where they don't have a prayer of competing with Wal-Mart, and that's exactly what Wal-Mart wants: less competition. Guess who passes these rules and regulations into law? Politicians. Guess who pays them to pass these laws? The corporations. (See: campaign donors) It's a vicious cycle, and your well-meaning efforts to curb the power of the corporations does nothing but empower them further.
The cruel irony here is that you don't trust corporate CEOs to do pay people "living wages" because they are greedy and corrupt, so you look to politicians (who are just as greedy and corrupt, if not more) to level the playing field. Ask any small business owner if they feel down-trodden by rules and regulations, and I think you know what they will tell you. What we need is more small businesses that can pay their employees appropriately so that nobody has to work for a corporation like Wal-Mart ever again. But this will never be achieved if you choke the life out of small businesses and innovative start-ups from the get-go with regulation. You must make the entry to market EASIER, not harder.
The world libertarianism assumes is that people will naturally make decisions in own best interests (and they should be free to do so as long as it does not result in aggression towards another person). That, my friend, is exactly the world we live in. Don't pretend that YOU know better by twisting, tinkering, and distorting the natural mechanisms of the free market.