I'll Have a Big Mac, Supersize the Subsidies

Recently, I've been seeing a lot about fast-food workers and public assistance, after a studyfrom the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center came out arguing that these workers get billions in public benefits. Several of my readers have hinted that I, as a welfare-hating libertarian type, should be outraged at all this free-riding.

I don't think this argument works for a bunch of reasons. We're about to see a lot more fast-food workers on public benefits, because of the Affordable Care Act. (Assuming it doesn't implode, of course.) Do companies really have a moral obligation to raise wages every time the public passes a new entitlement? That doesn't seem as if it can possibly be right. Does Obamacare give you a moral obligation to pay your lawn guy more? Do you think it might be hard to pass new public programs if it did?