General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The heart of the problem is that most People like Walmart [View all]cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)The OP boils down to: Only government regulation can change an environmental ecology. (I think we are in agreement there.)
The moral education of Sam Walton will not change anything because some other Sam Walton will do just the same things if that is what the environment allows/demands.
The "wage slave" problem was addressed with a minimum wage, not with the moral education of employers.
You are incorrect in suggesting that the laws of the marketplace are man-made. Human psychology is a key factor in how humans operate within those laws, but that is not the same thing.
And the fact that government changes the environment is always part of the overall equation. Government changes the environment in response to the effect of our natural market behavior.
(Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations talks about the natural tilt toward monopolies and the need for government to change the playing field to resist that. There has never been capitalism without government except in Ayn Rand novels.)
Basic concepts of supply and demand do not presume any particular environment. They just suggest what will happen in a given environment.
A minimum wage law changes the risk/reward equation in paying people too little money. If such a law had no penalty then it would change nothing. But the law has enough teeth to change the equation of the employer's self interest. Paying $1/hour is less good than going to jail is bad.
That is still a marketplace decision, same as any other.
The government changes the economic environment for all players and the optimal economic behavior changes.