• intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      We have minimum wage because we have decided it’s better to force some people to zero in order that others may have a little more.

      Well, also because people refuse to process the logic on that, because acknowledging what I just said would cause them to reconsider their position.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I can’t imagine the series of incidents in your life that led you to draw such a wrong conclusion and yet call it logic.

        You’ve really never heard the phrase “race to the bottom”?

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          I’ve heard the phrase, yes. I don’t base my philosophy on whether clever-sounding phrases exist.

          There’s no evidence to suggest that lack of a minimum wage results in everyone earning essentially zero wages, which is all I can imagine that phrase to mean.

          There is, however, evidence that minimum wages lead to unemployment. There’s also evidence to suggest unemployment is a horrible state to exist in.

        • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          There are many people in society that yes this is all they could do. Yes they used to just be poor and leeching off friends and family for support and shelter. Not everyone is educated and well adjusted an Alarming number of people aren’t.

        • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          For many it’s not the only thing but it’s an important option when something comes up or things don’t go according to plan, when the choice is ends don’t meet so you need to borrow money from a predatory lending service to avoid eviction or repossession or starvation then having the option of working evenings and weekends is a life saver.

          Likewise people who work like I do where I can earn what I need to most the time, even do well occasionally, but there might be a quiet period out of my control then gig work is again a real life saver.

          And yes there are ‘alternatives’ but once this is killed they get killed too, I’ve been looking at the job market recently and it’s very hard to find work that isn’t ‘you will work to our schedule which might change on a whim and if you ever so much as ask about a week or two unpaid time off you’re out’

          They already mostly fucked up gig work here in the uk, my American friends have a far easier time and earn better because we purposely scuppered them so that people can’t have any self sufficiency, freedom or determination. If I was in charge there would be a government body that helps people get in on work like this when needed, not policies to make sure people in difficult times or positions can’t do anything but devote their entire being to finding a corporation to live for.