$10 minimum wage will start a new economic earthquake

I am writing to respond to “Blaming the poor for rotten economy is stupid,” Christopher McKinnon’s letter on Feb. 4.

In this letter, he insulted capitalism. It’s easy to insult capitalism these days, because it has been injected with so many different forms of socialism.

Capitalism is when you work for someone else and sustain yourself at the barest minimum to survive. I’m talking so low, even a number of people on welfare look down on you. Think of yourself as one level above homelessness and those on welfare as royalty.

The worker then invests his excess dollars and hires those on welfare as employees. It’s a gamble, because they are capable of slowing down production or outright stopping it. There’s sabotage, embezzlement, corporate espionage and anything else that will drive his business into the ground. Either one at a time or all together, workers will miss deadlines. They may not care, because they can go back on welfare. As a capitalist, the owner’s choice is to replace human workers with various forms of technology.

Socialism is when practically every person works practically every waking moment. They produce all day and share what they have. They grow gardens; they share food. They donate land, and others build homes on it. It only works in large numbers, and it sustains those involved during economic downturns.

No wages are involved. People are not working for money; they are working to sustain or increase everyone’s standards of living. They are organizing outside of the government.

That’s why those that are either capitalists or socialists learn to adapt without help from the government. Those who can’t won’t be prepared for a future economic earthquake. That’s the one that will start when the federal government increases the minimum wage to more than $10 per hour.

Douglas PapaHallowell

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