Thomas Sowell: “Those who are being hired are paid for the value of the work they do. If their work is really worth more than what their employer is paying them, all they have to do is quit and go work for some other employer, who will pay them what their work is really worth. If they can’t find any other employer who will pay them more, then what makes them think their work is worth more? As for a ‘living wage,’ the employer is not hiring people in order to acquire dependents and become their meal ticket. He is hiring them for what they produce. Are some people not able to produce much? Absolutely! I know because I was once one of those people. After leaving home as a teenager, I discovered that what I could earn would only enable me to rent a furnished room about 6 by 9 feet. Instead of a closet, it had a nail on the back of the door – which was completely adequate for my wardrobe at the time. It became painfully clear that there was no great demand for a high school dropout with no skills and no experience. My choices were to get angry at my employer or to acquire some skills and experience – and try to pick up some more education, while I was at it. Even to a teenage dropout, that choice was a no-brainer. There was no one around to confuse the issue by telling me that I was somehow ‘entitled’ to what other people had produced, whether at the expense of the taxpayers or the employer.”