>polite and rational conversation would have been a much better bet rather than calling me names Parent's comment was a gentle poke in response to what was fra

>polite and rational conversation would have been a much better bet rather than calling me names Parent's comment was a gentle poke in response to what was frankly an offensive and inflammatory statement on your part. You brought up some seriously sore points for millions of people and somehow managed to not acknowledge the human aspect of it at all. In one sentence, you mention an (admittedly fictional, but also completely realistic) example of a man who in one future sees his sick son die because he couldn't afford the treatment, and in another sees his son make a full recovery after Scrooge has a change of heart. In the next, you say it's "unclear" why someone doing similar work to Cratchit should receive a (mandated) higher wage. In spite of this, the worst name that anybody has called you in this entire thread is "Ebenezer". If you want a specific argument as to why you shouldn't pursue this idea, without mentioning works of fiction: - Chronic poverty is a horrific experience, and if you needlessly inflict it on tens of millions of people eventually they'll get angry and chop off your head with a guillotine. If you want to see what an unrestrained, impolite response to your comment looks like, walk into a country pub on a Saturday night and share it with the blokes there.