Is wealth inequality a bad thing?

Thats a common misconception but let's extrapolate the logic for a second. Say Walmart decided to lower their wages down to 50 cent an hour. What happens? Well for one only people willing to work for that low stay at Walmart. This means that they are getting the cheapest laziest unmotivated people. Because anyone else would be looking for a higher paying job. What else happens if every other business follows suit? The general consumer can no longer afford to shop at Walmart at their current prices and they'd lose money unless they made it affordable. So bada bing suddenly that 20 dollar headset is only 4 dollars. It balances itself out. But realistically that would not happen. The common laborer would be paid according to his or her skill set. And now that the guy down the street can afford to hire the high school kid to help him out with his new business, the kid gets job experience and more jobs are created driving up the price of labor through competition. Economics 101

There will always be loopholes and exploits for those willing to look for them. But businesses are in it for the money. And economically speaking its stupid as hell to only hire underpaid workers and cut every corner. You'd be short selling yourself. As for the better policing I am suggesting a bigger police presence, body cameras, higher trained officers, and a better system to respond to calls. The money would come from currenly misused tax dollars that we already have.

That would happen if there was a healthy job market i.e. where there are more jobs than people and they could pick between jobs. What would happen if jobs were scarce, like at present? Especially at the lower end where people don't have specialized qualifications. There would be 10 people vying for that one job and Walmart would choose the desperate immigrant that works for peanuts, but is too afraid of being deported so he just stays silent.

what Voss is saying is kinda true. If you take a look over here at Europe Germany is the strongest economy right now. After the financial crisis in 2008 the government and all the big companies switched to temporary employment which is bad for the workers. (Low payment) But as soon as the crisis subsided the industry could start through. Now on the paper Germany makes a lot of money. The employment rate rose as well as the export rate. But not the wages, compared to other European countries. So you have lots of underpaid workers and the outcome starts to show up.

sadjester the unemployment rate will rise on global scale. Like it or not. We will have to find other systems. Otherwise many are doomed

What Im saying is that a lowered minimum wage increases the available jobs. Think about it. If legally I have to pay my workers 15 dollars an hour, as many would suggest, then even if I find someone lower skilled but willing to work for 10, I won't hire him. Because I cant afford him. I would hire the person worth 15. Whereas if I have no minimum wage and I'm just starting up, for that same 15 dollars I can now hire 2 workers willing to work 7 dollars an hour. More jobs created. And now I'm another avalible job hiring people at 7 dollars an hour. So now when an employee is looking for a job and the manager says he can start at 5 dollars an hour, that employee can ask for higher compensation otherwise they'll go to the place hiring for 7 dollars an hour. This answers your question earlier about businesses taking advange of employees. They couldnt. My suggestion gives employees more power. I mean unless the business again only hires shitty employees. But then no one would do business with them. So bad idea. You wouldnt eat at Subway if you saw employees picking their noses and mixing the dirty meat and tuna trays

We don't have to make our self more doomed though. ;p Everyone can't go on with the strategy of hoping the wealth will filter down, 'cause in the last couple of years it hasn't worked.

Jobs are scarce in part because of minimum wage but also the regulatio s I mentioned earlier. People using red tape to keep newcomers out. That is something else I would change. That...and the skills gap. All the kids in college want cushy office jobs. We are losing out on tradesmen and dangerous jobs. No on knows how to do it anymore. Personally I know a guy who cleans shit for a living and makes 6 figures doing it. Why? Because it has to be done and hardly anyone else will. There are plenty of opportunities to imporve for those willing to look for them.