I didn't say that most of the jobs are done by teens, I said they SHOULD be done by teens. Propping up a straw man as if I made a different argument is disingenuous. And I wouldn't trust the Department of Labor website you linked, since they can't seem to even calculate the actual unemployment rate.
Again, working the fry-a-lator is not a career, nor should it be an income for some trying to start a family. It's a job to get out of, not to stay in. Having a minimum wage at all is just another regulation control by big businesses to drive little businesses under. The minimum wage will rise when corporations decide that their pawns in Congress will allow it, but don't expect it to pay for a real living standard for very long, if at all. Remove the price controls and you will have teens at full employment because employers will be able to pay them at a rate that matches their labor. As for the 40 year old still making hamburgers, he might have to get a gig that requires more training, like working at a Home Depot (something a teen wouldn't be allowed to do since it requires training and access to equipment that can be dangerous).
If minimum wage actually worked, it would've solved the employment problem a long time again. Government controls don't work on business because the government is terrible at running things and big money has plenty of time to sway the rules in their favor.
It's always fun to talk about what SHOULD be, but we have to deal with what IS. And the reality is that there aren't enough jobs to go around so a lot of adults are stuck working minimum wage jobs while they struggle to make ends meet. The "free market" has never cared what people are paid and has never offered realistic solutions for social and economic problems. This is why people have repeatedly turned to the government to resolve what businesses have no incentive to correct.
That's exactly what the Roman Empire did and you can see how well that worked out. A realistic solution to the problems of this world is to stop going to the people that caused them for the answers.
That's a new one. I've heard that the Roman Empire fell because of reliance on barbarian mercenaries, lead poisoning, paganism and even because of gay marriage. I've never before heard that the Roman Empire fell because it rejected the Free Market Fairy.
It was a combination of many things, but mostly economic. Devaluing their currency to continue wars and expand the Empire. The Republic had a better balance of competing interest, but the Empire was more centralized, like all dictatorships. All the resources in Rome were eventually gobbled up to continue the empire and like the U.S., you were either politically connected businessman that supplied the endless needs of empire or you were just another chump that got taxed into oblivion.
I didn't say that most of the jobs are done by teens, I said they SHOULD be done by teens. Propping up a straw man as if I made a different argument is disingenuous. And I wouldn't trust the Department of Labor website you linked, since they can't seem to even calculate the actual unemployment rate.
Again, working the fry-a-lator is not a career, nor should it be an income for some trying to start a family. It's a job to get out of, not to stay in. Having a minimum wage at all is just another regulation control by big businesses to drive little businesses under. The minimum wage will rise when corporations decide that their pawns in Congress will allow it, but don't expect it to pay for a real living standard for very long, if at all. Remove the price controls and you will have teens at full employment because employers will be able to pay them at a rate that matches their labor. As for the 40 year old still making hamburgers, he might have to get a gig that requires more training, like working at a Home Depot (something a teen wouldn't be allowed to do since it requires training and access to equipment that can be dangerous).
If minimum wage actually worked, it would've solved the employment problem a long time again. Government controls don't work on business because the government is terrible at running things and big money has plenty of time to sway the rules in their favor.
It's always fun to talk about what SHOULD be, but we have to deal with what IS. And the reality is that there aren't enough jobs to go around so a lot of adults are stuck working minimum wage jobs while they struggle to make ends meet. The "free market" has never cared what people are paid and has never offered realistic solutions for social and economic problems. This is why people have repeatedly turned to the government to resolve what businesses have no incentive to correct.
That's exactly what the Roman Empire did and you can see how well that worked out. A realistic solution to the problems of this world is to stop going to the people that caused them for the answers.
That's a new one. I've heard that the Roman Empire fell because of reliance on barbarian mercenaries, lead poisoning, paganism and even because of gay marriage. I've never before heard that the Roman Empire fell because it rejected the Free Market Fairy.
It was a combination of many things, but mostly economic. Devaluing their currency to continue wars and expand the Empire. The Republic had a better balance of competing interest, but the Empire was more centralized, like all dictatorships. All the resources in Rome were eventually gobbled up to continue the empire and like the U.S., you were either politically connected businessman that supplied the endless needs of empire or you were just another chump that got taxed into oblivion.