[brandonr49]

If you think of the government as a union for the country's workers this explains why the minimum wage exists. It avoids prevents the wage race to the bottom that creates sweatshops. It also explains why some people see the minimum wage as the best method of "negotiating" with employers.

[chordalkeyboard]

That makes sense because unions are a way of exploiting companies so that the existing employees capture as much of the surplus as possible from the customers and owners and one of the ways they do this is by preventing competitors from entering the field and competing to offer services; and minimum wage ensures that if someone's labor is not marginally more valuable than the minimum wage, they won't be hired.

This actually makes a lot of sense and is a new paradigm for analysis, thank you.