Should Employers Pay Higher Wages?

The other night I listened to a hilarious TV debate during which a young, liberal lawyer argued that businesses should pay their employees higher wages. Just to be nice, apparently.

This person has satisfactorily completed elementary education, high school, college and law school, yet still has a total lack of understanding about how business works.

The liberal mind cannot grasp the idea of an individual and an employer agreeing to trade:
   from the employer, a certain number of dollars and other benefits;
   from the individual: a certain number of hours working at some tasks.

Is that really so complicated? To the liberal mind? Yes! If the agreed-upon wages and benefits do not provide the employee with the liberals' notion of "a living", the employer is evil!

With rare exception, if an employee decides to "throw in" some extra effort, the employer will "throw in" some extra dollars, in the form of a raise. I have experienced that phenomena several times. Once I worked for a radio station as an engineer. My employer was in the process of building a second radio station in another community. On numerous evenings and weekends I voluntarily drove to that other community to help with the construction. I did it for the joy of practicing my trade... the satisfaction of seeing something built with care and precision. When my employer found out what I was doing, he immediately increased my salary.

In later years, as an employer myself, I experienced the rarity, and the special value of an employee who truly believes in honest work for honest pay. I learned to bend heaven and earth to more generously compensate such an employee. Often, unfortunately, to my own detriment and to the detriment of that valued employee, and other, less-valued, employees.

Business is about arithmetic. If things don't add up to equal enough profit to keep the company going, the business will fail and everyone will lose. That is a concept which the liberal mind, despite years of formal education, cannot grasp.