The government has no business trying to set prices and wages.
The government lets in millions of immigrants a year so with no minimum wage it is a race to the bottom. Seal the borders and stop immigration and then we can talk.
“The government has no business trying to set prices and wages.”
Correct. Yet it does so directly in many markets.
We should also seal the border. Illegal is, well, not legal.
Current illegal immigration does lower wages for many Americans. We can legalize it, but the effect will be the same.
Here’s a question from an economics class I took decades ago. Why is a barber paid more in the US than in Seville (or Mexico city)? After all, the services are the same. Answer, the prevailing level of wages is higher in the US. You are competing with employers in different fields when you get your barber.
That made sense then, somewhat less so today. If you erase the border between Mexico and the US, there will be some equalization of wages between barbers in the US and Mexico.
I don’t think Americans should compete with foreigners on US soil, be it in construction or academia. That is just one of the perks of being an American.
Still, we can have a discussion on LEGAL immigration. Do we want the world’s poor, it’s striving, brains, moneyed, a mix? Do we want immigrants to assimilate to America? Do we want America to look like the rest of the world?