"Peter Aitken" > wrote in message
. com...
> "The Ranger" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 13:11:21 GMT, "Peter Aitken"
>> > wrote:
>> > "baker" > wrote in message
> ...
>> > > sf > wrote in
> :
>> > > > On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 12:13:20 GMT, baker > wrote:
>>
>> > > > > They chose to work there.
>> > > > >
>> > > > Said like a holier than thou person with job choice.
>> > > >
>> > > Did you choose the jobs you've had, or were they
>> > > chosen for you?
>> > >
>> > For a lot of people, job choice consists of chosing between
>> > McDonalds and Burger King.
>>
>> Nonsense. There are blue collar jobs that pay more than minimum
>> wage everywhere. Migrant workers fill those positions regularly
>> because the local population finds them distasteful or beneath
>> their dignity.
>>
>> > It's easy to say that they should
>> > "get an education and better themselves" and many do, but
>> > others do not have the chance. It's also undeniably true that
>> > many people simnply don't have the smarts or the ambition
>> > to do so, but that's no reason why they should be sentenced
>> > to living in poverty their whole lives.
>>
>> For the simple reason no one owes them anything. We are a country
>> built on always attempting to better ourselves, whether fiscally,
>> emotionally, or in some other manner. When the person _chooses_ not
>> to better themselves, then they are destined to remain in poverty.
>> It's that simple.
>
> Why do you say "chooses" when my argument is quite clearly based on the
> fact
> that many people do *not* have a choice? Also, I disagree with your
> premise
> that "no one owes them anything." Our society is based on the premise that
> work is good and that people who work should be fairly compensated. When
> someone works 40 or 60 hours a week and can barely scrape by, something is
> wrong.
>
>>
>> > Anyone who is willing to work and play by the rules should
>> > be able to make a decent life for themselves and their family.
>>
>> The migrant families (Mexican, Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans, El
>> Salvadoran, Vietnamese, Chinese, Irish, Australian, and Hindi are
>> just a few) I know do make (and have made) decent lives for
>> themselves and their families. They very much play by the host's
>> rules.
>>
>
> Good for them, but so what? This is completely irrelevant to the
> discussion.
>
>> > A country that can afford to pay executives tens of millions
>> > a year can surely afford a little more at the other end of the
>> > scale.
>>
>> We've already seen how that system works. I seem to remember it
>> failing and taking a former world power down with it.
>>
>
> Don't be bloody silly - there's absolutely no comparison. We (the US)
> already have a minimum wage - does that make us "Communist" and doomed to
> fall?
>

Just let them eat cake, Peter, let them eat cake.

Jack Robespierre