Debate on a issue

"Actually no. If minimum wage solved poverty crisis then we would just inform third world countries to pay their citizens higher wages. Imagine all the foreign aid money saved simply by advising leaders in the world's poorest countries! It doesn't work, even applied to the United States, there's little evidence suggesting that increases in the minimum wage help the poor." Your statment of their being little evidence is disproved if I give evidence: 1: http://www.epi.org... if 10% of the workforce will have their pay raised, this will help lower poverty. 2: http://www.americanprogress.org... "I think it is clear that raidsing the minimum wage will lower poverty That's natural cycle of a capitalist market. If businesses fail/need restructuring then that leaves others to rise who won't make the same mistakes as say the current car industry. Note it is the businesses structure and not minimum wage that caused them to fail. Those employees from the failed businesses are still skilled workers; still have value to other employees. Minimum wage employees are also not the ones to be spending on luxury products, so that point is moot." Yes but minimum wage workers are consumers, and if they fail to make enough money, the market of necessities is hurt. This can hurt the economy, and not just the luxury industry. 3: http://www.ncccusa.org... "On the reverse, raising the minimum wage will help bussiness, as this article points out. Under capitalism ones wages depend on how much one can produce. That is why a doctor gets paid substantially more than the factory worker. It depends on how well and how much one produces. The reason why factory labourers receive more wages than say a fast food employee is because they are rendered more productive by productive use of capital." True, but there must be a limit. When someone does some amount of work they earn at least a minimum of SOME capital. This is why fast food workers are paid. "Those who don't produce enough to merit the minimum wage will become unemployed - they have little tradeable worth for an employee. Those who do produce more than the minimum wage don't need minimum wage laws. If a labourer, say our doctor, is not paid enough for what she produces then someone else will hire her and pay her more. It is competition for labour that produces and pushes wages up." If, like you argue, this competition pushes wages up, why is anyone on minimum wage. Some people on minimum wage work very hard, however their work is not valued for, while not eliete, it is streneous, and no one will hire them for another person is just as qualified. "The point is not cheap labour. Minimum wage is why companies invest in offshore production - the government forces them to pay at a higher rate than the value of the work itself. Wage laws violate the freedom of two people to enter into a voluntary association with each other. Minimum wage hurts employment, hurts investment, hurts growth and expansion. Minimum wage laws are adverse to the basic premise of capitalism - supply and demand. It forces businesses to pay a fixed amount for services even when the value of that service is less than the legal set wage. This in turn forces businesses to adjust their employment practices to meet the whims of government officials, as opposed to acting in the interests of producing a profit to sustain their business. High minimum wage levels will cause low wage workers to be retrenched. Minimum wage laws increase the cost for businesses to operate, which in turn increase the overall cost of living in an area. The law is self defeating." I will argue that companies invest in offshore production to get cheap labor, HOWEVER, the value of the work is not low. The fact is the government exists to serve the people, and if they let people work very hard for very little money, it is corrupt and evil. Minimum wage may encourage offshore production, but it prevents oppresion. And the cycle you mentioned, is easily reversed by raising the minimum wage due to inflation, for that is in part, what you described. I await my opponents response.