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Comment by taeric | Hacker News Reader

This line of thinking leads to allowing people to sell themselves into slavery. Do we need to solve homelessness? Absolutely. We do not do this by propping up businesses and properties that rely on below livable wages.

I can buy some level of slippery slope at play here. But, by and large, this frames it in a way that allows sub-livable wages.

So, you can think my "side" is framing this in a way to justify it. This does little more than convince me your "side" is just trying to justify keeping ill earned wealth.

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> This line of thinking leads to allowing people to sell themselves into slavery.

I think there is a fundamental difference between selling labor and selling legal rights. You might say that someone so financially desperate has de-facto given some rights to their employer, but coercion is always illegal (whether or not this kind of person is likely to seek legal help is another story).

> So, you can think my "side" is framing this in a way to justify it. This does little more than convince me your "side" is just trying to justify keeping ill earned wealth.

Sounds like you dislike exploitative businesses more than you care about the homeless. That isn't necessarily right or wrong, but I think it explains your inclination on the issue.

    I think there is a fundamental difference between
    selling labor and selling legal rights. You might
    say that someone so financially desperate has de-facto
    given some rights to their employer, but coercion is 
    always illegal (whether or not this kind of person is
    likely to seek legal help is another story).

I question that difference. Selling labor is merely selling the legal rights to the product of your labor. Building a dependence into the system by allowing below living wages is something I just don't see ending well.

I'm not convinced I'm correct on this. But at face value, I don't see how it works.

    Sounds like you dislike exploitative businesses more than
    you care about the homeless. That isn't necessarily right
    or wrong, but I think it explains your inclination on the
    issue.

I view them as distinct things. And while I certainly encourage ways to get homeless people feeling productive, I don't think getting them below living wage jobs is doing them a favor. Reliable shelter where they are able to get food and necessities while possibly building skills is something I'm incredibly for. And I hate the NIMBY syndrome that is pervading a lot of the city.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is an easy answer. :(

What's wrong with allowing people to sell themselves into what you call slavery?

Assuming it's a bad decision (makes their lives worse off), the problem is that they make a bad decision. In that case, it might make sense to create a regulation that forbids people making bad decisions.

If it's a good decision, there's no point forbidding it.

Good for who though? If you're the employer then people selling themselves to you for below living wage (slavery) is absolutely fantastic, if you're the person selling yourself then it's not so great! It's a matter of perspective.

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