Their statement begged the question, and it was asked.
I wasn't asking out of hostility, but out of curiosity. If the point can be made, and as you say, there is overwhelming evidence, I'd like the self-described expert of their field to provide an authoritative source. That's to the benefit of all readers.
Instead, we have a bunch of hand-wavey replies on both sides with dubious back-up, balanced with maybe a more illuminating discussion about the intersection of morality and economics, specifically regarding slavery and minorities - which I feel somewhat swayed by.
> Minimum wage is a widely studied issue with well documented pros and cons.
Throw us a bone then :) There are many countries around the world that do have a minimum wage, surely there's some data out there we can grok. Perhaps a minimum wage to quality-of-life measure? Inform this naive individual.
There's also a rule that you are aware of, having read the rules, about not creating throwaway accounts routinely. Though to be fair to you, it doesn't specifically say don't create a throwaway because you don't want to abuse other posters under your regular account.
That seems like a strange thing to do, though, when your side of the argument is "wildly uncontroversial".
This is not an uncontroversial opinion, even among economists.
I am questioning the particular way they worded their comment, I thought I made that obvious.
Condescension by experts is one means by which bad ideas can promulgate, and lead to bad policy. Everyone you speak with is a potential voter, and at the end of the day, badly or uninformed voters are bad for democratic outcomes.
To go back to your original criticism, asking for background information is a lazy dismissal wasn't a fair assessment. Is wasn't a dismissal but a request for more information. It's important than when you make an assertion that a lay-person might have some misgivings, that you provide some real evidence, or qualify your statement as opinion. An appeal to one's own authority isn't enough, at least it ought not to be in HN, where it would seem many people really care to know more, and want to engage in real discourse.
Edit: qualified some statements..
> conservative bullshit
I think it helps to be mindful to not fall prey to ideology through opposition. Visualizing your interlocutor as an enemy gives no room for either you or them to grow in knowledge, and encourages bad faith dialogue... IMHO :)
Minimum wage is a widely studied issue with well documented pros and cons. It's weaknesses, when addressed in isolation, are so well understood that most discussion at a high level on the topic is not whether it has pros/cons but what instruments it should be combined with to mitigate its cons (the mainstream answer is usually tax breaks of various kinds, often targeting the employee and not the employer.)
Would you ask a Gender Studies professor to defend the assertion that the feminine gender construct is typically defined by its submissive traits or would you ask how these observations are used to make observations and proposals about the real world?
Would you ask a mathematician their sources when they begin to explain linear algebra or would you ask questions that help to understand their perspective on the matter?
Hacker News supposedly has a rule against shallow comments and yet for some reason knee jerk requests for sources with no additional substance to drive the dialogue forward are considered 'reasonable'.