> We need more people moving up into skilled labor. Need? No. Would it be better for society? Maybe. This is not really something that people disagree with. Di

> We need more people moving up into skilled labor. Need? No. Would it be better for society? Maybe. This is not really something that people disagree with. Dispensing with the repetition will save the distraction. > the idea that minimum wage is supposed to be "livable" is a modern notion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_wage - back to 1604, or earlier or later; what does it matter? > Unskilled labor probably shouldn't be livable. Why? Arguing the economic consequences are not a reasoning. There will always be humans who are incapable of skilled labor (of any note) beyond newly educated students. eg The Calculator profession and other forms of industrial collapse as well as immigrants (legal or otherwise) and the disabled. It's not clear what you think is the obvious way to keep these people alive. Welfare/socialism or pretending they don't exist, relegating them to a slave class, or exile?