The minimum wage is a good law

I apologize if anything I say is construed as a rebuttal. I stopped reading my opponent's arguments halfway through to ensure I could go at this with an uninfluenced opening statement. I will continue reading afterwards.---In a capitalist economy wages are dictated by supply and demand. If the supply of job positions is higher than the demand, wages will go up as employers compete for workers. If the supply of job positions is lower than the demand, wages will go down as workers compete for employment. If the economies of the world were always strong, and there were always more employment opportunities than people, there would be no need for a minimum wage. The need for a minimum wage has its roots in times of a weak economy. There comes a point when a person may be forced into taking a wage that is not high enough for them to provide for their family, and allowing this violates three provisions of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights.The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights has 30 total provisions and can be found here: [1]Article 3 states "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."Let's say that a person named Robert didn't go to college for financial reasons. The economy is in a depression, and he is struggling to find a well paying job with just a high school diploma. He is forced find a low paying job as a fry cook. The job was listed as $8 an hour pre-recession, but is now listed at $4.50 due to increased demand, and the fact that the owner can get away with charging that little. Robert would love to turn down the job, but he knows that a low paying job is better than no job. At least this way, he won't starve to death in an alley way.Article 4 states "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms"Note that this says "in ALL their forms"If a man is working for so little that he can only pay bills and purchase necessities, he is practically a slave. If his schedule resembles this:-wake up-go to work-come home-go to sleep(repeat ad infinitum)Then one cannot argue otherwise. A person in this position has entered an inescapable cycle of poverty, so they are trapped in their job without any way out. If they leave they have no guarantee of finding another job, and somebody who was already incapable of purchasing even the cheapest of luxuries cannot afford to go to school. Article 24 states "Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours..."No man (or woman) should have to work full time and still live a life of poverty. Working for $4 an hour because you aren't qualified for a better paying job means you might have to work two or three of them. This is assuming that another job could even be attained. Any country that allows its citizens to work so many hours that their right to rest and leisure has been violated, then that country itself is at fault for violating the article.---The next major issue is with an absence of a minimum wage is the emergence of a de facto monopoly artificially controlling wages.The term monopoly is defined as the "exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices." [2]I would just like to focus on the last part there.A company that has a monopoly, or a group of companies that form a trade alliance, may set wages as they wish. If Samuel wants a job as a chemical engineer, but cannot just start his own company. Doing so would require him to lower his prices enough to compete with the company that controls the market. As Samuel is not rich and powerful corporation, he cannot survive in this market. John D. Rockefeller used the tactic of selling oil at a loss in order to get rid of competition because he could afford to. This leaves Samuel with one option: join a company that is in the field. Sam sends an email to the corporation stating that he is considering applying for a job, and would like to know how much he would make. Samuel gets a reply with the number $7 an hour. In a better world, Samuel could go to their competitors and shop around to find a better potential salary, but alas, in this world he has no choice because there are no competitors. A minimum wage would protect Samuel from being forced to work for so little.---The minimum wage is a beneficial, and I dare say necessary, aspect of any industrialized nation because not only does it protect workers from having to accept wages that are too low during times of recession or not, but it also protects the human rights established by the international body known as the United Nations.[1] http://www.un.org...[2] http://dictionary.reference.com...