I am arguing against minimum wage for the downsides that are obviously not apparent. It was enacted in 1938, which wasn't that long ago and certainly not over a century ago. The United States' economy was very strong for a good couple hundred years until the early 1900's, when we started our move to Central Banking and heavy corporate lobbying.
A price floor is not just a term used to talk about consumer prices. It is used to describe any minimum cost to any service, product, or good. In other words, Minimum Wage IS a price floor to employers, since employers must pay for their employees service.
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Answers.com Topic: Price Floor.
Minimum wage
A historical (and current) example of a price floor are minimum wage laws, laws specifying the lowest wage a company can pay an employee (employees are suppliers of labor and the company is the consumer in this case). When the minimum wage is set higher than the equilibrium market price for unskilled labor, unemployment is created (more people are looking for jobs than there are jobs are available). A minimum wage above the equilibrium wage would induce employers to hire fewer workers as well as cause more people to enter the labor market, the result is a surplus in the amount of labor available. The equilibrium wage for a worker would be dependent upon the worker's skill sets along with market conditions.
Before telling me I'm wrong 3 times in a row, you should double check your paradigm with a very simple google search.
Our jobs aren't getting outsourced to 3rd World Countries. They're getting outsourced to
Second World Countries. A 3rd world country is a country that shows no or very little economic, social, and political development. Our jobs are being outsourced to nations like India, China, and parts of Central and South America. These places, India especially, are developing quickly and rapidly. Their economies are outclassing our own in a huge number of ways. The world's top doctors, dentists, technicians, IT, Programmers, and more, have been coming out of India for the last decade. They are in no means 3rd World. India has no minimum wage, and is one of the fastest developing nations on the planet. Our jobs are being outsourced to these places because businesses cannot afford to pay Americans to do it. They simply cannot operate in the United States and turn any profit. A business that turns no profit must close its doors. Here, Minimum Wage is directly responsible for Unemployment. The alternative to the end of outsourcing is the end of affordable clothing and free phone tech support. If we, the consumer, has to pay for American minimum wage, then the cheapest tshirts and jeans would cost us what it costs at the most American expensive outlets.
Before 1938, when minimum wage was enacted, there was not a problem of "every employer paying the same." Sorry, but you're wrong about that and it only takes a little bit of connecting the dots to see it. We had a booming economy and a strong job market long, long, long before minimum wage was enacted. The quality of goods and services was higher than it is now, and people made a living in manufacturing (where they learned how to actually
make stuff) as opposed to today's 2/3rds service sector market.
Simply put, skills and capabilities, like, say, cabinet making or food preparation, are measurable. One person can be better than another person at it. The consumer seeks both low prices and quality goods. Often, the consumer will sacrifice one for the other, like paying a higher price for an excellent service or good, or paying a bargain price for a shoddy and disposable good. Some businesses make their profit by selling mass crap, some make their profit by selling fewer quality good. Those will superior skills earned superior wages.
And cost of living hasn't gone up since Minimum Wage has been enacted?
Maybe you should look at some data:
Monthly Consumer Price Index since 1913. The CPI is a fairly accurate measurement of the cost of living.
(Not to digress, but many claim that the CPI is a measurement of inflation, which is not accurate.)
By the way, NO, the freemarket is NOT responsible for our consumerist culture, the fallout of the mortgage crisis, or many of the other problems. These problems are due to government interference and corporate lobbying. The Free Market is the OPPOSITE of these things, and we havent had a truly free market since 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created to oversee our financial policy. In 1933, when we went off the gold standard, the free market took another major hit. Since then, we've seen rampant inflation, raises in the cost of living, wall street taking over main street, and many of these problems. You can't blame the free market if 1) you dont really understand what it is, and 2) we havent had one since long before both of our life times.
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