Minimum wage dogma

It is an article of faith among relatively prosperous blue collar workers that the minimum wage protects - even when their own skills get them an hourly wage far above the minimum.

The people we should really worry about are the absolute dregs of the economic order - the unemployable, often homeless. I believe the State does owe something to these people. How much is debatable.

But it seems obvious to me that abolishing the minimum wage can release their potential energies - for the benefit of all.

Those beggars who ask you for quarters every day can be quite useful to you . But being " employed " is invariably a bureaucratic mess. Imagine if our regular class of beggars improve their life in just a few weeks by doing " menial " chores for ANYBODY that needs help. If the nature of the work is undemanding, and the beggar finds it agreeable - where is the exploitation here ?


Is it not more dignified to have $25 in your pockets at the end of the day - EARNED INCOME - than a lot less money obtained by abject begging ?

We can abolish the " underclass " overnight - if we just allow them to be useful. There are numerous petty tasks that wast the average worker's and the small business man's time. Our despised " bums " can come to the rescue here.

If I were homeless and broke, I would still rather " work " than beg. Is it moral to let human beings just rot uselessly - when we can give them a measure of dignity ?


It is a myth that the big unions care about the poorest of the poor. They just feel threatened by the " lumpen "- to use Marxist terminology.

It would be nice to see more " bums " downtown who are really coming up in the world. Perhaps one might loan me a quarter - for a phone call, of course !