Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think!paperboy!husc6!contact!umb!ryan From: ryan@umb.umb.edu (Daniel R. Guilderson) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: Labor and human lives Message-ID: <1093@umb.umb.edu> Date: 11 Apr 90 19:49:52 GMT References: <53291@bbn.COM> <3923@plain <4071@plains.UUCP> Reply-To: ryan@umb.UUCP (Daniel R. Guilderson) Organization: Dept of Math and CS, UMass Boston. Lines: 29 In article <4071@plains.UUCP> stinnett@plains.UUCP (M.G. Stinnett) writes: >[stuff deleted] >>with or without a minimum wage. I'm complaining about the >>overall way Mr. Stinnett is approching the whole issue of labor. > >I make no apologies for this. I'm investing my skull and physical sweat >for me--not anyone else. If I'm smart and do well, you may be able to >tag along by investing yours in the same direction. Or you can do it >your own way. But don't do me any favors, because I'm not doing any >for you. I think this discussion boils down to what you think we owe each other as human beings. If you take the position that we owe each other nothing then you won't feel cheated if you get in an auto accident and become permanently brain damaged and society refuses to help you. Your attitude might change if you were physically and mentally incapable of earning huge sums of money. Could you imagine yourself flipping hamburgers at McDonald's because that is all that you are capable of? If on the other hand you believe, as I do, that we owe it to each other to make sure that all of us live above the poverty line then you won't mind paying more for labor. I don't think we should throw out the minimum wage because other countries have cheaper labor or are not responsible enough to see to it that their citizens are living above the poverty line. There are other ways to address economic problems without hanging the underclass out to dry. Dan Guilderson UMass Boston