...is to have as many people working as possible, earning as much as possible, so that they will be happy and vote the government back in power.

The purpose of business is to have as few people working as possible, earning as little as possible, so that profits will be maximized and so people will be so desperate for employment they will be willing to work for shit wages under horrible conditions and not cause any trouble.

The purpose of the workers is to make as much money as possible for as little effort as possible.

Once you understand that, the mystery goes away and everybody's motivations are clear. When evaluating the arguments for or against this kind of policy, keep in mind that those most loudly making the arguments all have skin in the game. Still, in my opinion, if you're working two jobs and still can't pay your bills and feed your family, you're probably not a worthless welfare scam artist, or a teen-ager working for spending money. In fact, these days, you're probably someone that used to be in the middle class and used to vote a straight Republican ticket.