[The One and Only...]

You are missing my point. During depressions, our policy has long been that wages need to be maintained, as well as prices. I simply think that this only increases the distortions of the market, and does nothing but slow down the correction process.

If wages are not maintained artificially high, business can lower prices, which is exactly what people expect in a depression. The faster these prices fall, the quicker the depression will end. And if prices are falling, then the minimum wage worker is not hurt much at all.

Another benefit of getting rid of minimum wage would be greater employment. This may hurt the lone minimum wage worker, but it helps the bum who cannot find a job. Some left-wingers claim that lower wages hurt the lower class: but who's lower, the fast food worker or the drunken bum on the street?

I realize this holds little impact in modern times, but then, so do minimum wage laws. The number of people who work for minimum wage is trivial, and I find it highly unlikely that they would work for less if the laws were repealed. There is no point in working if you cannot afford to live, after all.

The fact that I am detached from the life style of those making minimum wage is precisely why I can make a better judgement on the topic, since I can be more objective and less emotional. Do not, however, make the assumption that I have never been in difficult financial situations: when your duplex does not have enough water pressure for a decent shower and pigeons like sitting on your roof more than any other (it was always fun to look at the pigeons through the window), you have a pretty bad home. Let's not even get into the neighbor that abused his wife.