Editor’s note: Following is a (brief) blog post from Wiley 4. We’ve been trying to make him write one every 2 months, but we haven’t been super religious about it. Here are his most recent thoughts on something every 12 year-old ponders…minimum wage. Feel free to engage in debate with him, if you so choose.
Opinion Article
by Wiley Long
Topic-Minimum Wage
Minimum wage is a heavy topic in the United States and I believe that every person has a different opinion about it, clearly, this is not a black and white topic.
So, right away-Do I believe there should be a minimum wage?-No. But why don’t I believe that there should be a minimum wage in the United States is a bigger question.
In the United States we have freedom, we have the right to work for any price we agree to work for. If someone wants to pay someone $2/hour to make hamburgers at MacDonald’s, and that person agrees to work for $2/hour to make hamburgers at MacDonald’s than they should be able to do that. $7.25/hour is a pretty normal price that I think – even if there wasn’t a minimum wage – most people wouldn’t go too far below. On the other hand, in Vermont where the minimum wage is $9.15/hr, that just seems unfair for a small business owner who maybe owns a tiny little restaurant who has to pay someone $9.15/hr to sweep their floor.
In the end, it’s one of those things that I just don’t understand how people for minimum wage don’t get. Anyway, I hope that one day, things will be different and maybe anyone reading maybe changed there mind a bit.
The Long's Strange Trip 2014 