Yaron Answers: Does the minimum wage help the poor?

[Reidsmith]

I remember when I was a young teen in the fifties, I worked for the local drug store delivering orders, organizing the pop cooler etc. I did all this for $0.35 an hour. One day I was working with the pharmacist when a message came on the radio that the government was thinking of bringing in a minimum wage. He told me that if that happens I would be out of a job. He was right. I think that the value of that job was much greater than the amount that I was making. Sad for the kids of today.

[billmelater]

Minimum Wage debate in a nutshell: "I'm not making as much as I think I deserve for the job I voluntarily took, so I'm going to run to government to force my employer to pay me what I want."

[dimager]

I started from 3 buck an hour when I was 15(in Israel). It was illegal to pay that low wage but I also worked illegal and didn't care. I was happy to make even that and the fact that I learned how to make my own money, how to reach my goals helped me a lot.

[vegasrenie]

Every time the minimum wage goes up, so does the unemployment of teens, especially minorities in poor neighborhoods. In my opinion, if they *have* to have a minimum wage, then inexperienced/teens should be exempted. They will get experience and the business will be able to have a good worker for a reasonable wage.

[Saltybuher]

I worked my way through university. I appreciated the minimum wage in my country.

[madderbass]

Yes, it is stealing. It is immoral for the government to stick a gun to your head and take money from you for the poor or handicapped. There is nothing compassionate about doing that. There never is for ANY sort of theft, no matter what the reason is. The only moral and practical solution to helping them is through private charity.

[billmelater]

The error in believing in a "minimum" wage is that the idea is not only wholly beholden to the overall wealth of a given nation/people, but beholden more realistically to the wealth of the company paying the wage.

The greatest mistake as that those who advocate for a MW typically do so while citing the largest, most wealthy companies as the basis for their "they can afford to pay more" stance. This is however, a great error. If you are going to establish a government mandated minimum at all (which I'm not for), then you must do so with the smallest company as the basis for this minimum in mind. Larger companies can weather your storm of whining and pay the hire wage, while the smaller competitors cannot. What's more, you incentivize automation and create a situation where the high start-up cost is now viable since you are no longer able to compete at a lower wage. All the while, the smaller businesses can afford neither the mandatory pay increase, nor the cost of automation and the big bad companies you use as your entire premise are made better off through the reduced competition and staff.

Secondly, the idea that wealth will just up and increase because people's pay increases, utterly belays economic realities. If you don't believe me, then I encourage you to go to Zimbabwe, Nepal or whatever poor nation you fancy and simply tell them to "just pay people more". I wish you luck and eagerly await your results. The rest of us however, understand that such things cannot so arbitrarily be done.

Lastly, the idea that a business cannot set its own wages is also the idea they don't really own the business either and I will go so far as to point out that such levels of government intrusion are that much closer to economic Fascism. Sure, many will just say "I'm just trying to get people to be paid what they're worth" but you don't actually know what they're worth. Prices and values only exist where two parties agree and they are utterly subjective. There is no such thing as objective value and so a realistic standard wage cannot exist. "Oh, well people need at least minimum living standards." Okay, define this minimum. Give me hard defining beginning and ends for what is to be the boundaries for this definition of "minimum". In some nations, the minimum is just enough food to stay alive and a shack. In others, it's an apartment, food, a phone, maybe even some form of transport. The idea of a minimum is wholly arbitrary.

[niklasmolen]

In Scandinavia, a low-paid worker earns enough to go abroad each year. Companies like mcdonalds are doing well in these countries.

[marcze]

I go inside your house and steal you TV beause i want to help my poor neighboor. Stealing or not?

[MillionTube]

People:We don't care more money!
Me: hey I hire a poor person $1 a hour in a 3rd world countries making millions yay!

[PantheraLeoKing]

So we can just have sweat shops? AWESOME! I always wanted to work 16 hours day!
Hey you know what is fun? making two dollars an hour! Lets just keep the wealthy people happy, that is all that matters in life!

[veramann]

Some studies show that a minimum wage does hurt businesses. But most studies show it's good for the whole economy.

[donmurphy]

Mr. Brooks is full of it.  Labor does effect the bottom line but so do the cost of material, transportation, utilities, and many more things.  Don't put every thing on the backs of labor.  When an employer receives cost increases, they either absorb them or pass them along to their customers.  When people work 40, 50, 60 hours a week and must still sign up for welfare, that's enough to discourage any worker.  In addition the Government makes up the difference in welfare and other supplements.  So they force us, or the Government, into paying part of their labor cost.

[Saberwolves]

the problem is that people do not always get from $5 to $7. He is falsely assumes that working hard will always get you a raise

[thebigbaker]

Haha, this argumentation ist that tumb. I am really wondering how a big think tank like Ayn Rand Institute can post such a shallow-brained video. I mean: of course, I´m a supporter of the minimum wage and am therefore prejudiced. BUT THIS?? That is your point? I was really hoping for something more elaborate.

[ferrarishrimper]

This man's views are utterly repugnant! He legitimises selfishness. Taxes are the greatest invention of man kind. How else are roads going to be repaired, infrastructure created and police recruited?
He says "if I pay someone $50 a hour I expect $55 per hour in productivity". Who on earth pays a McDonald's worker $50 a hour? And secondly wages need to rise in line with inflation because the cost of goods has risen. The minimum wage is there to protect people from poverty!
He also says that "someone needs to get the experience so they can earn $60, $70 or $80 an hour"... but that works on the assumption that employers pay you more for your experience. Loads of people I know have done their jobs for 10 years and have only had a pay rise twice. Employers don't always reward workers for hard work FACT! They think "oh this guy works hard for $5 an hour, if he works this hard why should I pay him more?"