So? We're not talking about minimum wage for managerial positions either. $1/hr for an entry level job then was way more than $5.15/hr today. You could use this "explanation" to also justify endentured servitude.
If anything we've both proven that there are "experts" on both sides that are in disagreement on the issue. So the question the title of this thread asks, "Why vote this down?", Can't simply be answered with the typical leftwing-knee-jerk "Because Republicans are Evil and Greedy." Which is so often the standard reply. I have no facts to support this, aside from a little common-sense and personal experience, but I'd wager that an artificial Floor set by the feds on wages actually works more to suppress then elevate those same wages. The rode to hell is paved with good intentions ... My apologies, I reget my choice of words. I'll refrain from the childish name-calling in the future ... I haven't engaged people on the left in awhile, ever since they started regularrly regarding conservatives as the "Fourth Reich, Nazis, etc ..."
If you are so irresponsible to try and raise a family on min wage then that is what you deserve plain and simple. Perhaps you should use your family as motivation to improve your lot in life by bettering yourself instead of complaining about it. If you are content to live on minimum wage and have no desire or determination to improve then that is what you deserve. Why in the hell should we mandate that a person have a right to a certain standard of living if they do nothing to improve themselves? I have no issue with helping someone who is making a determined effort to improve themselves. But if you are over the age of 18 and the only job you can get is one paying minimum wage, the only person that can be blamed is the person in the mirror. In that case, I see no reason for the government to mandate that you be entitled to a wage that provides a certain standard of living just because you breathe. At that point it is time for you to grow up and take some responsibility for yourself and your actions (or lack of action).
I'm assuming all you anti minimum wage people are also against overtime laws. The logic is the same for both, so in fairness lets here your rant to eliminate the overtime laws. Say no to federal government overtime laws. Does anyone here remember the song "I owe my soul to the company store" ? It's about how the coal minning companies would pay the workers and then deduct their rent to live in company houses and they shopped at the company store. At the end of the week of working in a mine the miner owed the company money and got deeper in debt every week. It's not just a song it really happened. An example of big business without government labor laws protecting them. Do ya'll really want to go back to those day? Even the Hannity & Rush coolaid drinkers wouldn't want to see their fellow Americans in that condition.
Please explain to me why the government (or anyone for that matter) should be in the business of helping those who do not help themselves with providing a certain standard of living? I am not trying to be sarcastic or offensive or start a flame war. I would like a serious attempt to explain why. Perhaps you could convince me to reevaluate my position if the argument was compelling enough.
I am not from that time but how were the mine employees forced to live in company housing and forced to shop at the company store? How were they forced to work in the mines in the first place?
You'll have to do your own homework if you really want to know about the history and plight of the working poor. Read a little about how the early American business tycoons made it big on what amounted to slave labor. Times are different and tons better today and I think employeers care more about the people working for them. But it was brought about first by federal labor laws. And if we didn't have the laws today you can bet with 100% certantity that some employers will go back to slave labor type wages when they could get away with it.