There are a significant number of people with developmental conditions such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Down's Syndrome who, realistically, are never going to be capable of generating $20/hr of economic value. The higher we raise the minimum wage, the more of those people we condemn to permanent dependence on government aid.
Where I live we solve this in part with state sponsored offsets in wages. If you hire a person with a medically diagnosed handicap, you get some of the wages back from the government.
That way they aren't "dependent on government aid". They get to work for a fair comparable wage, avoid having to deal with too much additional paperwork, and don't have to be constantly faced with a stigma of being worth less. They are treated equally, and the employer gets to handle their crap on the back end.
It's not some insurmountable gotcha to drag people with a handicap into the conversation.
I support caring for those who can't care for themselves, but most people want to be able to make a positive contribution. Being taken care of is humiliating.
>I support caring for those who can't care for themselves, but most people want to be able to make a positive contribution. Being taken care of is humiliating.
And so in your ideal world, if they can make a positive contribution, just not enough to live on, we can let them live on the street? Having a "Let them eat cake"[0] moment, are we?
Who is to say that folks being subsidized because they don't have the means or wherewithal to support themselves can't make a positive contribution?
Does that contribution have to be that they mop floors, clean toilets or flip burgers?
Perhaps they might contribute positively to society in other ways, just perhaps not those that have monetary (and ones that don't allow them to pay rent or eat healthy at that) rewards?
You know what's humiliating? Living on the street. Rooting through garbage cans to find food to eat. Having to listen to wealthy, entitled folks tell them they're worth less than everyone else and that they should be happy that they're "contributing" to get scraps from their tables. Forcing those with nothing to jump through hoops just to feed themselves and their children. Those things are much more humiliating than getting a helping hand to make ends meet so one can have a roof and electricity and maybe even food.
A better approach would be to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to help those people rather than distorting the labor market by increasing the minimum wage.
