MY UNCLE, A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL business person, decided unilaterally that the entire family will enjoy christmas dinner at a casino. I politely declined the invite, citing my inexplicable aversion to businesses owned and operated by organized crime.
Ever the clever conservative retort specialist, uncle suggested that if i have something against the mafia, maybe i ought not be so enthusiastic in my support of labor unions, which, it has long been rumored, have historically maintained a cordial relationship with our fedora bedecked violin case carrying friends.
Well done, dear uncle. Good point. Not quite good enough, albeit. The first thing i pointed out to him is that casinos are not necessary for modern industrial luxury laden human existence, whereas factories and coal mines are, last i heard.
I went on to gently remind my beloved that it is necessary that people be employed in aforementioned factories and mines, somebody has to do it, and that, if we the american people wish to justifiably consider ourselves to be among the civilized peoples of the world, workers in factories and mines must be treated fairly.
I tried to break it to him gently that this has not always been the case, in fact rarely if ever has it so been, and that folks with families who live in impoverished squalor sometimes mysteriously feel the need to gather together in barns, and talk about what to do to improve their collective lot.
One on one, worker against board of directors, somehow just don't too often seem to git 'er done. Then I made a few brief remarks about sweatshops, wal mart, the degree of reluctance with which owners tend to voluntarily bestow benefits, like health insurance, to workers, and so forth, and so on.
Hell, i said, what's wrong with a little mafia - labor union confabulation, just between friends? I mean, you know, whatever it takes, eh? If uncle sam ainta gonna do it, and the owners and managers ainta gonna do it, then, well...
Uncle conceded, with some reluctance, that yes, i had a good point or two. But he had to keep plugging away. He pointed to a comment made by a friend of his, a political science professor, to the effect that every time minimum wage is raised, high school students are motivated to drop out and go to work, due to the allure of wealth. My response to this was that his friend the professor must be out of his ever lovin' economically conservative head.
So, if minimum wage should by chance be generously raised to a living wage, which is unlikely at best, it seems america's senior class will drop out en mass, never get an education, and spend their lives in low wage hell, all because of a silly decision made for the shortsighted allure of quick money.
But if minimum wage is such a bad choice to choose, then are we sure that even high schoolers are gonna be stupid enough to be sufficiently attracted to an increase in said minimum wage to actually....
well, anyhow. I mean, what're you gonna say, or do?
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