ARE MINIMUM WAGE LAWS A GOOD THING?

14th Century Plague Doctor

Minimum wage is the least amount of money a company is required to pay it’s employees. The idea of minimum wage can be traced back all the way to the 14th century. Towards the middle of the century, the black plague started to decline after 1350. After this decline, workers began to seek jobs again, but this time they demanded triple wages of their pre-plague salaries. To control the high demands, King Edward III created the “Ordinance of Laborers”. This allowed the government to create a maximum rate of how much money workers could demand. The result of these laws, birthed what we now know as “minimum wage”.

Millions of lives were affected by the Great Depression

Minimum Wage in the United States was introduced much later, in the 90’s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act), which in turn introduced the first federal minimum wage laws in the United States. The president stated that: “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country”. Roosevelt approved the NIRA, in hopes to combat the great depression, in which it did. However, the great depression could of easily been dealt with by abolishing the federal reserve, and creating a true free market economy.

Should businesses really be required to pay employees $15 an hour just for flipping burgers or making pizza?

Some claim that minimum wage is a human right, however this is the opposite of what is true. Forcing a business to pay it’s workers a certain amount is tyranny, and it contradicts free-market capitalist values. Minimum wage should not be enforced. Instead businesses should set up their own standards of appropriate wages, and be able to voluntarily balance out salaries, according to the average living wage of their communities. Minimum wage policies should be discarded, because it is an infringement on the human right to private property.

Jail time for those who refuse to pay minimum wage

Minimum wage laws are also very violent. If a company does not pay the minimum wage requirements, the institution will be fined by the government (At least in the U.S.). If the managers of the company refuse to be fined, they may face jail time. If the managers refuse arrest, then they will be forcibly handcuffed or even shot. Therefore minimum wage laws also abuse the right to a free life and the right to economic opportunity. Minimum wage is not a right, it is a violent set of policies used by incompetent workers to steal money from businesses.

Minimum wage is not as glorious as it sounds. If a company is required to pay their workers more, then they will either have to maintain a lower amount of workers per establishment, or the company will have to raise the prices of their services/products if they decide to keep the same amount of workers. What McDonalds has done in response to minimum wage laws, is that they have started implementing more machines to replace their workers. In my opinion, I think that robots will inevitably end up replacing human employees in the far future.

There are multiple countries that do not have minimum wage laws. One successful example is Switzerland. This country has rejected minimum wage laws, and yet their economy is very strong and stable. With it’s limited amount of government control, a market economy, no wage laws and stable politics, this country is an ideal place to live.

How liberals view minimum wage

In conclusion, minimum wage is a utopian view of how the economy should work. However, as most people know, utopias don’t exist. The best economic system, based on history, current real-world evidence and libertarian values, the free-market is the greatest and most successful economy for all individuals, no matter how rich or poor. 

- Sam A. Stace
Instagram: @Ancap.Israel https://www.instagram.com/ancap.israel/
Credits to: Freedombeforefeelings for the topic suggestion.
Go follow: https://www.instagram.com/freedombeforefeelings/

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-09-05/how-the-black-death-spawned-the-minimum-wage

http://slw.povertyalliance.org/about/nmwdifference

http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/minimum-wage-quotes/

http://beforeitsnews.com/libertarian/2012/04/debunking-myths-of-the-great-depression-2035891.html

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-1000302843

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/may/30/employers-repay-minium-wage-hmrc

http://www.valuesandcapitalism.com/what-actually-happens-when-you-raise-the-minimum-wage/
http://www.forbes.com/places/switzerland/

WHO WILL BUILD THE ROADS?

"We all posses the ability to empathize, connect and feel compassion for one another"

This year, is the year of 2016. Up until this point, we as human beings have accomplished great things, and yet- we still continue to do some of the same terrible actions that our ancestors have already done in the past. Technology is greater than ever, the essentials of living are provided to us, and most people are content with their lives. However, we should imagine, what we could achieve if we didn’t have an attachment to the barbaric ways of our primal human aggression. Instead, together we can start exploring the more tender sides of our human nature. We all posses the ability to empathize, connect and feel compassion for one another (well maybe except the majority of politicians). By utilizing our good intentions, we can become more united and stronger as citizens of this earth. As of right now however, war, theft, slavery, murder, rape and fraud are still very relevant. Nevertheless, to achieve a peaceful society where government’s role is minimal-to-none, is possible. It just requires a paradigm shift to occur on a grand scale. Hopefully, before the end of the 21st century, we can achieve peace and true freedom.

Here lies a majestic, government-paved road

Humanity’s belief in government and the use of non-defensive violence, is a very dangerous ideology. In my opinion, this belief is guilty of creating the largest on-going genocide in history: Democide. R.J. Rummel defined the term as: “the murder of any person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder” (University of Hawaii). This political scientist, estimated that 262 million victims died due to democide. Government has time and time again been proven to be a very dangerous concept. As more private businesses replace government-funded ones, people will begin to realize that our reliance on the establishment, has been unnecessary and absolutely pointless this whole entire time. The free market will inevitably end up replacing any form of government-controlled economy.

Even though a lot of people realize how terrible authority and violence can be, they still retain a special type of arrogant pessimism. “I don’t want to die for my freedom” says the cowardly statist. Whenever i hear that i wonder, what makes people think that their life is so valuable over the lives of seven billion. “In a stateless society, people would be killing each other left and right!” says the doubtful statist. This wouldn’t happen if private police departments and detectives existed, alongside a well-armed and educated populous. My favorite statist rebuttal is: “Without government, who would build the roads?” (Second favorite being: “If you don’t like it here, go live in Somalia!"). The roads argument has recently become more of a meme, rather than a real argument. This is due to it’s ridiculousness, and the lack of incentive the debating statist has, to question their own beliefs. Nonetheless, i think this question should be answered. Who will build the roads? Well the answer to that is: The free-market will!

The free-market enables people to be successful

In a capitalist, free-market system, businesses compete with each other to create a greater profit. They accomplish this by using the incentive of money, to design and sell better products than their competitors. The same goes for the services that government currently provides us today. Welfare, public transit, social security, roads, water and protection services, can all be privatized and provided by businesses. The companies that perform the best, will be funded voluntary by and through the people. Bad businesses will be stopped via consumer power, and lack of funding. Corporations that abuse human rights in a stateless society, will have to pay compensations to their victims, and face the consequences, according to it’s community’s justice system. 

Without the pillars, the roof will fall

All in all, i think debunking statist’s arguments is a essential part of political evolution. The more and more we ponder about how we, as independent human beings, can function in a stateless society, the closer we get to actually achieving such a system. Eventually, through agorism, education and an armed populous, the establishment will inevitably crumble. We the people are the tax-paying pillars, to the abusive roof of our governments. Once all of us as a collective realize our true potential, only then will we be able to break past the establishment and achieve peaceful anarchy.

-Sam A. Stace

Instagram: @Ancap.Israel https://www.instagram.com/ancap.israel/

Credits to: Ty Thorn for submitting the question, "Who will build the roads?"

Citation: Rummel, R.J. "Freedom, Democide, War." Freedom, Democide, War: Home Page. University of Hawaii, n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.