Master CraftsMon

Friday, March 31, 2006

Master CraftsMon - Aired Monday, March 13, 2006 at about 11pm CST - Segment 4

Master CraftsMon - Aired Monday, March 13, 2006 at about 11pm CST
Segment 4

<Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi> #2.4

This is another protest against Capitalism. The poor benighted people in the story have such cruel and awful lives and it is all so awful. If we just had a compassionate government like the countries in Europe have, we wouldn't hear about people in bad situations like the one in the song.

The problem I always have with people who bemoan their lot in songs like this are that they never try to look for any solutions. They accept that life has screwed them and make no effort to do anything about it. I hear over and over again about people who are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet and can't understand that.

We have a movement locally called the Living Wage Coalition. Their goal is to in essence raise the minimum wage locally so that people can have enough to get by. They never ask why people are making less than a living wage. The answer almost always that the person involved is unskilled labor. Then they do not ask how come the individual is unskilled labor. I mean, how can someone be so unskilled in this country that they do not demand a living wage? The answer normally is that the person never finished high school OR never tried to get a skill that would demand a living wage. At that point the reasons become too individualistic to guess as to an overall answer.

The correct way in this country to raise people into a living wage is to get them to volunteer to gain the skills they lack. The idea that their poverty will be alleviated by simply giving them more money is just silly, plus here is the kicker. When you raise the minimum wage, you ace out the least skilled. Let me try this again. If a person has a skill level that does not demand even a minimum wage and a county raises all wages to a living wage, then the least skilled cannot get a job at the new pay scale. The most skilled of the unskilled pool of laborers take all the jobs. Thus the people you really want to help can never get a job, because the more skilled people will take all the jobs leaving them nothing.

A while back I told you about the Hiring Hall Association, that is my answer to the Living Wage Coalition. Ask people to volunteer to raise their skill.

There was a movie I saw once. The title was "Lower the Drawbridge, Don't Drain the Mote." I think about that phrase whenever I hear people demanding the raising of the minimum wage.

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