Reply #105: But it's not like the worker walks in the door with a $10 price tag attached.

[wickerwoman]

The worker "costs" $10 because the employer has determined that that is the least amount of money he/she can get away with paying based very often on the perceived level of desperation in the local labor market.

There's no reason why it doesn't work the opposite way. The employer finds out what the customer is willing to pay $65 for the product. The materials. distribution, etc. cost $15. He takes half the profit for providing the means of production and to recoup his investment and pays the worker $25.

The only reason it doesn't work this way is that capitalism is designed so that people have to act against their own best interests in order to do the moral thing- pay a living wage to their employees.