POITOU, FRANCE – Today is Labor Day.
Most of the world pays homage to its sweating, busing, trucking classes, its poor huddled masses… yearning for a cushier seat and a better deal… on May 1.
President Grover Cleveland chose the first Monday in September.
Of great interest to people in America, as indicated by the newspaper headlines, is how much other people earn.
No one – or almost no one – writing in the editorial pages works at McDonald’s or earns the minimum wage. But practically every one of them has an opinion about how much people on low wages should earn.
A “living wage” is what they say they want. Thirty thousand dollars a year is the amount we’ve seen discussed.
Of course, a national living wage is absurd. It costs far more to live in Manhattan than in the Ozarks. And it is far less expensive to live with Mom and Dad than to have a place of one’s own.
But we are not so much concerned with the practical details as with the theory.
We have been told that the people who work at McDonald’s need to earn more. But what about those who write for the editorial pages? Perhaps they should earn less?
If well-educated, well-liquored, and well-paid employees can decide the wages of McDonald’s workers, surely the burger flippers should have the right to fix the wages of the chattering, meddling, and improving classes.
Were that to happen, our guess is that the well-paid know-it-alls would take a pay cut. Which seems proper and just.
We walk into McDonald’s, and a minimum-wage worker serves up our order. We get what we pay for and are content with the transaction; we do not begrudge the worker his recompense.
We read the paper, on the other hand, and we get bilge and nonsense.
Self-Satisfied Price-Fixers
Generally, we get decent service and good value for money from the blue-collar worker.
What do we get from the white-collared clown?
Grief.
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