Sobre o salário mínimo

Justice and Charity in Wages, Clifford F. Thies, Acton Institute

" Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, Centesimus Annus, is a marvelous defense of capitalism and attack on socialism in its feudal, totalitarian, and welfare state forms. One is particularly impressed by Pope John Paul’s argument that the burdens that the welfare state places on the poor are immoral. Accordingly, this teaching does more than simply return the Catholic church to the position originally expressed by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum, whose one-hundredth anniversary it celebrates.

In Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo argued that "as a rule, workman and employer should make free agreements." This was very much part of Pope Leo’s defense of capitalism. However, he then went on to say that if, through necessity, a worker accepts a wage that provides less than "reasonable and frugal comfort … he is the victim of force and injustice."

(...)

As I have come to understand the workings of the modern welfare state, I see that the poor are victimized by legal minimum wage laws that deny them the dignity of work and the true sympathy of those who are better off. More generally, and as argued by Pope John Paul, the poor are victimized by the state’s many interventions into the economy that prevent them from working, that price goods and services out of their reach, and that pervert natural incentives to work and otherwise act responsibly.

In the nineteenth century, when charity was essentially a church matter, the poor were viewed as brothers and sisters in Christ: that is, as equals. Working, being self-responsible, and contributing to society was viewed as good for all. The biblical admonitions to give to widows and orphans, to leave work for the poor, and to lend to the poor man who is our brother were taken seriously. As we move from merely defending capitalism to exploring the full implications of economic liberty, we will have to rediscover the subtle difference between what we owe each other as matters of justice, in which matters we are answerable to the state, and what we owe each other as matters of charity, in which matters we are answerable to a higher authority."