Debate on a issue

"R1: Wealth Without minimum wage the poverty rate would skyrocket, as people would not be able to make enough money to live. Stores could get cheap labor however the workers would be denied." 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. "R2: Economy As we have seen recently, when coeporate America loses money so do the private citizens and stockholders, this is also true in reverse as people could not afford products, thus hurting the overall economy." 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. 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. 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. It is competition between businesses for labour that pushes wages up - note its opposite - it is competition between labourers that pushes wages down - to reduce this competition between labourers unions create a unionised 'business' which prevents non-union members from competing with them, by banning non-union members from working in the unionised field. "R3: Well being As I have stated before if the minimum wage is eliminated, it will hurt the economy, hurting citizens, and yielding no benefit. Though in the short term it would provide cheap labor, it hurts us in the end." 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.