Re: ah yes, one more brick...

Heat + Beans wrote:

So, here I am, somewhere between St.John's "reasonable" one-liner (an
answer to which would be a "comeback," rather than a reply) and your
challenging questions (must be 15 or more of them). Let me respond to
just a piece of one of them since I've got to get back to the work that
pays my bills.

You refer to Bernie's bringing "in enough income to keep his business
in operation with enough surplus to put food on his table and enough
extra to make it worth his while to run said business . . ."

These are modest goals, indeed, and Bernie's bottom line may be so
precarious that a raised minimum wage would have him go hungry or wipe
out his motivation to be a businessman.

I am curious. Have you ever run a small business?

Or, I suppose that his business
could go under even with no increase in wages. I'd hate to see either
happen.

Nonetheless, either can.

But in either case if he had to take up the alternative you
propose--"taking a job at the car wash" I am certain that a) he would
work very hard to do the best job possible, and b) he would warrant, as
a matter of human decency and sound economics, a living wage that put
food on his table.

Why is it "sound economics" for the car wash to pay someone "a living wage
that put food on his table" when there are people who only need "some
spending money" willing to undertake the work?

Are you suggesting that wages should be tied to the needs of the worker and
not to his contribution? That if two people are doing _exactly_ the same
work one with 12 kids should be paid more than one who is single and lives
with his parents? If not, then why does the person who is single and lives
with his parents deserve the same wage as the person with 12 kids?

And I am very interested in seeing which of these questions you choose not
to answer.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: ah yes, one more brick...
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