[reflecting]

A devotion to libertarian capitalism is as false a view of human nature and dangerous as socialism....both deny the essential nature of man....there are underground sweat shops all over this country, and but for minimum wage laws they would operate above ground....people will use and abuse other people...and I do have a say in the moral conduct of fellow citizens

What would I pay.....as a believer my conduct is bound by certain commands ...

[spinestein]

[A devotion to libertarian capitalism is as false a view of human nature and dangerous as socialism]



No, it isn't.

[Niteranger68]

A devotion to libertarian capitalism is as false a view of human nature and dangerous as socialism....both deny the essential nature of man....there are underground sweat shops all over this country, and but for minimum wage laws they would operate above ground....people will use and abuse other people...and I do have a say in the moral conduct of fellow citizens

Let me guess. You can't keep a job.

[palmer]

there are underground sweat shops all over this country, and but for minimum wage laws they would operate above ground

Good point. They should call this the "more illegal jobs for illegals" bill.

[spinestein]

The small factory (fewer than ten employees) I work in now is the ONLY ONE of all our competitors in our market segment which makes our type of product here in America instead of in Asia. If this $2/hr minimum wage increase were enacted, then we would HAVE to raise our wages across the board by the same amount even though all of our employees currently make significantly more than the minimum wage (plus we have health insurance). Since our competitors costs (wages) will not be going up (because their employees are Chinese) they will drive us out of business within about a year and all of us will be out looking for new jobs. I'm happy with my current job and don't want to be out pounding pavement looking for a new one because some Keynesian economics worshiper with a wealth redistribution bug up his ass got his way.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Pay should equal the benefit of the services. Apparently you subscribe to the Marxist creed that Capitalism steals the value of the working man's labor. It is a fact that about 2.5% of all people employed in this country make the minimum wage. Most people have some skill that makes them marketable enough to be paid more than $5.15.

To what level should we raise the minimum wage. How about $25 per hour, that would take everyone off welfare. WRONG, it would create massive unemployment, and more sweatshops that you complain of. In fact sweatshop that exist are probably the product of the illegal immigration problem in our country that not enough of our Democratic or Republican leaders want to address.

Have you read Milton Friedman or F.A. Hayek? Check them out.

[Can i say that here?]

What would I pay.....as a believer my conduct is bound by certain commands ...

As a fellow believer, I agree with your sentiment, but add the following-

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if anyone doesn't provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever."

In Matthew 20, Jesus tells the parable of paying the 3 sets of workers hired at different times of day the same wage. His answer to the man who protests is this, "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous.

The burden of provision, from a Christian perspective, is on the worker not the employer. No one owes any of us a job that will sustain us. We have to work for it.