Michael,

"The idea that we can hold the federal minimum static and provide increases in those areas where the cost of living is higher seems to move in the right direction, but why not repeal the federal minimum and let all municipalities, EZs, or counties decide a minimum?"

I agree with this.  If we can get local minimum wage laws, I think it would be more just than the federal minimum wage.  I'd love to see both parties embrace this.  Let's go.  How can we get it into the public discussion.

GK - God is good!

Christopher

"The purpose of the law is to promote justice and each law does so more or less.  It is not nessary then for a law to be just all the time just in the predominace of the cases where it applies."

This is not true...the purpose of law is to attempt to create a well ordered society.  Some laws may have justice as their intent, but needn't.

"Now as I see it you cannot say the law fails to promote justice in at least 1 and 3...Certainly no one can argue with 3 if the employee is being paid a fair wage the employer employee and consumer are all in a right relationship with each other and that is the idea."

I can actually argue with all three.  If 1. then justice fails the wage-earner; if 2. justice fails the employer; if 3. one must still demonstrate that this is true in every case for justice to be preserved.  Again, that a wage for an earner may be equivalent to the wage that would be paid as a just wage is no indication that the law itself is just; all must be paid justly, not just one, or a few, or the majority.

"It has promoted a just relationship to exist between all parties and depended on the parties to more needs to be done to reach true justice."

In this case there is no "just" relationship because each is not "rendered his due."

Michael
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried"

"The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - GK Chesterton

Please forgive me , but I'm still confused.  It is probably a terminology issue.

let's move to a different law for a moment because I'm sure I'm misunderstanding you and I will try to ask questions to allow you to clarify.

Let's start with a speed limit law.

It promotes the common good by encouraging safe driving.

Agian I think you can safely break it's effects down into three catagories.

1) the limit is too high ( in the case of storm , snow, rain etc)

2) the limit is too low ( perfect driving conditions)

3) the limit is correct for the road ( average driving conditions )

Do you believe the speed laws are unjust?

Do they do justice to all invovled under all cirucmstance?

It seems to me that in the case where somone would be underpaid if they are paid a minum wage law no injustic has been done by the law for a  few reasons.

1) nothing prevents him from being paid more ( with the exception that his employer chooses to be unjust but this is the employers injustice not the laws)

2) Although he his work is still undevalued the law has at least required a value higher then what he might otherwise have been given ( especially given the employers already evident intent to underpay him).

There is no injustice done to an employer who is being required to do less then he should.

Also, pushing this down to the level of the state or manisipality seems only to inclease the accuracy of information gathering and allow for a more complex decision to be made, it would not seem to actually answer any of your original objects.

For instance if every county in the united states where required by a federal law to establish what they considered a just minimum wage for thier manicipality within every minicipality you woul still have, people underpad, overpaid and paid what they should be if the minimum wage was paid to them. 

Ok so I went back and read what you were quoted in context.

It is the last sentence is a much more complex argument.

As near as I can tell the bishops to not seem to be asserting that the minimum wage law is just in any way shape or form. The do assert that having a just wage is important and do seem to believe that having a higher minimum wage helps to support the accomplishment of that goal, but I don't see that they are making any specific claim that the law as it stands is 'just' in the theological or technical sense. Only that increasing it is a step in the right direction towards having 'just wage' in the united states given the current political and economic environment.

For instance is the ban on partial birth abortion a just law? Certainly not in the sense that it fails to protect millions of babies and really doesn't even protect 1 only makes them less painfully killed. Still the passage of the partial birth abortion law was a good first step towards promoting the dignity of human life and insuring justice is done. The law itself does not fully accomplish that goal but in combination with other trends moves us a little closer as a society.

As near as I can tell the bishops are not claiming raising the minimum wage will make wages 'just' only that it will advance the goal of prompting just wages.

They base this assertation on this data:

An increase in the minimum wage would positively affect nearly 9 million of low-wage workers:

An increase in the minimum wage would disproportionately benefit women, minorities, and the nation's poor:

An increase in the minimum wage will not increase joblessness:

$5.15 an hour is not a livable wage

Now , I don't know if there data is good or not, but starting from there it seems that an increase in the minimum wage does assist in accomplishing the goal of insuring a just wage to those who most need it. It by no means goes all the way to that goal but that doesn't seem to me to be what the bishops are claiming here.