You might end up with Asian type sweatshops if it was completely free
How does a place like California have a min wage of $8.50?
I didn't expect America to have such a small min wage
A free market would push employers to lower salaries in an effort to save money and maximise revenue. Look at how many employers pay their employees minimum wage? The reason is simple - it's the lowest wage they can pay their employees. If they could, they'd go lower.
I get for free!
Let me guess - you're in a discipline that is considered a "wise" choice. May I ask what discipline you're in before I thoroughly deconstruct and demonstrate the fallacious and ludicrous nature of your assertion?
And in that case, where is the problem? Just my opinion, and I'm sure there are many others who would disagree.
An interesting point, and one that's certainly a liability of the system in some cases. Alternatively, many feel that a free market creates competition to provide lower priced goods, attract the best employees, rewards hard work instead of social background, and forces innovation and efficiency to remain competitive. Some also maintain it provides more choice to consumers (in order for ones goods/services to stand out from the crowd) and it rewards hard work instead of enforcing mediocrity (which can happen when even the minimum effort is guaranteed a reward). As has been noted, those who are stupid, lazy, or just horribly unlucky are often relagated to poverty and dissatisfaction.
To idrinor's point... Often times, those who to excel in areas that are less valued by a society, or areas that are over saturated with prospective workers, often do not receive what they feel to be fair compensation for their pursuits. Much as in nature, the underdog does not necessarily win and sometimes nice guys finish last. Intentionally gaining an increasing share in a shrinking market or mastering a skill set which people are unwilling to engage in trade for, is a poor choice unless someone feels the very act of pursuing that endeavor is reward enough. And in that case, where is the problem? Just my opinion, and I'm sure there are many others who would disagree.
Not true. Degrees vary in price. A law degree costs considerably more than an arts degree. To be fair, this is also assuming you go to school in a jurisdiction where university prices are regulated and controlled (such as mine). My tuition for eight months of school is just under $6000 CAD. I'd say that is hardly a ludicrous amount for a degree. To be fair, that is a graduate tuition. Undergrad tuition in my discipline (education) is about $6300 CAD for the year. That's $6300 for the entire degree. I'd also point you to the tuition fees for my school, demonstrating that in fact, you are wrong in that tuition fees differ considerably across discipline. I'd encourage you to look at the fees for your school if you really think that fees are uniform across disciplines.
I agree. My question is: what's your point? So, people go back to school. That doesn't devalue their first degree and the skills they learned there. These individuals are refining or adding new skills to the ones that they had previously learned. In a world where more and more people are getting university degrees, people need more to stand out. This is why graduate schools are seeing increased enrolment.
I'd love to do so. Before I do though, you need to clarify your last point when you state that people go back for "stupid majors". This is part of the reason I asked you what program you were in. I wanted to see how you delineated the difference between "stupid" programs and "non-stupid programs." It sure sounds like you're being pretentious in your argument. And might I ask why you decided to put degree in quotations above in your previous post? I'm going to assume that you are part of an academic culture and department that thinks their program is so much better than others.
That may or may not be the case (this isn't really the place for a comprehensive economic debate nor am I qualified to make general and informed conclusions about economics) but I would say that nothing you stated precludes the necessity of a minimum wage. In a completely free system (if this were to ever happen), I still believe that wages in certain industries at least would go down. They wouldn't drop to zero but I'm fairly certain that salaries at fast food chains for instance wouldn't increase substantially if at all. Fast food may only be one example but they are representative of the service sector which makes up a huge part of the economies of the Western world.
