A minimum wage exists to provide a basic means to survive, or at least it should. It should be enough to cover your living costs and get by month to month. Obviously 7 US dollars does not provide that to any sufficient degree whence something like 50 million people needing food stamps. Now if there are effective controls on corporations in regards to outsourcing, unchecked immigration etc, then obviously there will still be jobs.

In regards to your abhorrent views on service industry workers, then I think you are quite repugnant. You shouldn't need to rely on the charity of a customer to top up 2.15 an hour. How about you just pay a fair wage of 20 dollars if that is what the worker will end up taking home. Instead, you are asking the worker to whore themselves to the highest paying bidder. It is sick when all you are doing at the end of the day is buying a drink.

The unemployment of young Britains today is akin to the problem in America. The minimum wage is not relevant, but what is relevent is outsourcing and unchecked immigration. I think these are serious problems and those alone will create unemployment for young natives and decrease the numbers of available jobs. I think already in the UK young workers are earning less than the minimum wage.

When it comes to dismissing people who flip burgers and clean toilets, I think you again display a pompous arrogance and disregard for important jobs. These things have to be done and in truth, not many want to do them. However, there is a demand for hygiene and certainly in your country a high demand for obesity. Again, what is the harm in paying the Mc'D's worker 18 bucks an hour? If they work hard and are helping to make the branch money then they deserve more than the bare minimum. That is where you don't value people, they are a mere commodity to be exploited. I disagree with that on political, moral, and ethical grounds.

I think you come across as someone who has been brainwashed into believing the Chicago school economics view of globalisation. Of course it has been great for the US elite, but for many Americans it means enhanced poverty and around the world it means the exploitation of labour markets. Personally, I am very much against that world view.

And yes, Lyle. Very insightful. What I encourage is that society should care more for it's home labour resources as eventually when the skeleton is stripped, the entire thing will come crashing down like a house of cards. The middle classes have been eroded for 40 years, 50 million are on food stamps, the end isn't going to be pretty. The Soviet Union collapsed after overextending itself, the US appears to be gradually getting there. The US is maybe not that far behind. I also encourage people not to take part in the consumer economy. Strip your life down to the essentials and plan well, because ultimately the pension and security you thought the state would provide might not be there. Certainly don't rely on the US dollar and make sure you know how to grow potatoes.