by Bryan-James

Created on: March 22, 2009

The minimum wage came about because of fears that people were being exploited. Those without up to date skills or none at all, it was said, fell victim to the harsh realities of commercial life, and being at the bottom of the chain suffered the resulting low wages. The poor were worst affected, and their exploitation fills many volumes of justification for government policy.

There is something to be said for paying a fair wage for a job done, and that should be the guiding principle.

One problem with the minimum wage is that it distorts company costs and means that the social element of employing people is often more than the work is worth, so companies have to cut back in other areas, and that may affect the working conditions.

Now, the main reason I have a problem with the minimum wage is because it is a total distortion of the facts of life. You don't spend more than you can afford for a given services, not normally, not unless some factor is making them artificially expensive - but this is what the minimum wage does. It's an arbitrary, introduced by governments because they have failed to properly manage the economy and their policies regarding a fair society have failed...totally and completely.

Let's be realistic here. The only reason the poor need a distortedwage is because basic living is just too expensive. Today, we have so many taxes imposed on us by governments that would rather flex their muscles, and live the good life, than create an environment where people are free to make up their own mind how they live and what their lifestyle will be.

We will, for the moment put aside the ever increasing legislation that increases the cost of doing anything, from petty health and safety rules, to all the unnecessary forms that need filling in to prove a business is complying with the latest insane raft of thinking from some ivory tower.

What we cannot ignore though is taxation. On land, houses, clothes, food, shoes, and transport. The government insists on taking its share in whatever we do. Governments have been shown to be too greedy, with their extended family of workers, destined not to serve us, but to make sure we are complying with the rules. Local authorities now support so many additional "services" that the taxes we pay them have rocketed.

That government has become so expensive to run accounts for the large increase in taxation, but as we know, much of that additional government is unwanted and unnecessary. So rather than make the basic cost of living cheap, governments impose these same taxes on the poor..... and then, there is this amazing thing called benefits which in as complicated a way as possible, they allow the poor to claim, while taxing the middle classes extra to support their inane welfare programs.

The answer to all of this is in the hands of governments. Reduce the bloated administrations, reduce or abolish taxes on anything that affects the basic cost of living, and the poor won't need handout, nor the minimum wage.

Lets make it simple for goodness sake.

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