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To: Les H who wrote (106356)	6/4/2001 12:52:21 PM
From: Don Lloyd	Respond to of 436258

Les - ...For the same reasons as the federal min wage, I don't support the EITC as a broad-brush that benefits a lot of unintended people in trying to help a target political group. I think it would be fairer to gradually increase the minimum wage over time rather than these stepwise increases. Your gradual increase in no way ameliorates the negative impacts of the minimum wage, and it eliminates the real purpose of the minimum wage, which is to fake sincere compassion by voting for it in Congress. The problem that the minimum wage pretends to address, the low standards of living that are achievable by low skilled workers without resorting to the off-the-books economy and crime, is real. It is not only real, but it will persist as long as certain perverse government policies exist, including the utterly inept compulsory government school system, the ridiculously counterproductive anti-drug war, the highly regressive payroll taxes of the mandatory SS system and an immigration system which lets in those attracted by welfare and keeps out those willing and able to support themselves by participating in the legal and productive economy. If it is believed that public support for low-skilled workers is justified, and it certainly is, under present circumstances, then a policy that actually works is needed, not one that just looks good and provides political advantages. Beyond eliminating the perverse government policies that aggravate the situation, the following book seems to me to present a plan which has some chance of success: amazon.com Rewarding Work: How to Restore Participation and Self-Support to Free Enterprise by Edmund S. Phelps This book, not a conservative one by any means, calls for the use of government wage subsidies on a declining scale to bridge the gap between the value to the employer of a low skilled worker and the wage level needed for a job to make sense to the employee. Regards, Don