I don't think you read what I wrote carefully enough. Here it is again.
Liberals don't want to see other people accepting an income below what is needed for them to survive in a way that we can accept, so pass rules about a minimum wage.
The key points being that liberals don't want to see it (they don't see other countries), and it is the liberals defining what seems acceptable.
As for your "after adjusting for purchasing power" comment, you know enough economics to know that such adjustments depend on the bundles of goods being purchased, and the poor purchase different bundles than middle class people would. (The same problem means that the quoted inflation figures do not accurately predict the experience of specific socioeconomic groups.) Thus the figures should be taken with a grain of salt.
But that said, yes, people survive on that. But do liberals like seeing them do that? I submit that liberals don't, and this is the motivation for the minimum wage. (See the sibling reply to yours for verification.)
As for watching TV versus working, I'm sure that would happen. I know some of those people. I also know people who would happily work for less than minimum wage just to get out of the house.
I definitely misunderstood what you said. Thanks for the clarification. I suspect your theory about what people like to see has more than a grain of truth to it.
Liberals don't want to see other people accepting an income below what is needed for them to survive in a way that we can accept, so pass rules about a minimum wage.
The key points being that liberals don't want to see it (they don't see other countries), and it is the liberals defining what seems acceptable.
As for your "after adjusting for purchasing power" comment, you know enough economics to know that such adjustments depend on the bundles of goods being purchased, and the poor purchase different bundles than middle class people would. (The same problem means that the quoted inflation figures do not accurately predict the experience of specific socioeconomic groups.) Thus the figures should be taken with a grain of salt.
But that said, yes, people survive on that. But do liberals like seeing them do that? I submit that liberals don't, and this is the motivation for the minimum wage. (See the sibling reply to yours for verification.)
As for watching TV versus working, I'm sure that would happen. I know some of those people. I also know people who would happily work for less than minimum wage just to get out of the house.