Paul, of course, you’re correct. I’d like to point to three columns I wrote on this topic as additional support/ideas on this topic:

Real-World Limitations On Bargaining Power, Not The Law Of Supply & Demand, Are The Primary Reasons For The Low Price For Unskilled Labor. This is a very long, somewhat technical examination of how price is actually determined in a Market Economy and it’s not primarily supply & demand as the right wing claims. It’s really bargaining power and workers have almost none.

Secondly, much (but not all) of the intense opposition to a living wage is not logical, it’s emotional. The Real Reason Many Conservatives Hate A Living-Wage Minimum Wage. Their Ethical Code Says It’s Morally Wrong To Pay People More Than They Think Their Low-Level Abilities Entitle Them To Earn

I think that’s exactly the reason Ms. Rampell fells the way she does. Paying people a living wage seems to her to be unfair. No way to debate anyone out of that opinion.

Lastly, I’m continuously irritated by the specious argument that a someone who claims to be a capitalist shouldn’t have to pay a living wage because it will put them out of business. If it will then they SHOULD go out of business. That’s how the free market works and is SUPPOSED to work.

“We Can’t Raise The Minimum Wage Because That Will Put Me Out Of Business” Is A Really Bad Argument. This Is What People Say When They Want The Government To Subsidize The Cost Of Running Their Business

— David Grace