Well, there's the famed minimum wage. However, as I see it,
raising the minimum wage simply changes the value of the money.
(Labor theory of value.) In practice, when the relatively
poor start to get more money, the better-off, who have more
power than they do, can be expected simply charge them and
each other more until the wage change is absorbed by inflation.
And this is what we seem to observe. It seems like a cruel
joke, in fact, but "only the poor will suffer, and they're
used to it."
I think there is empirical evidence that this does not happen. Look at EPI's web page.
Also, Marx's law of value predicts that changing wages (the value of labor-power) will not change the value of money (labor itself crystallized in the form of a universal commodity).
But Brad is right that low-wage workers encounter the welfare state in many forms. Many have very insecure employment and never qualify for unemployment insurance, so TANF is always on the radar screen whether they actually receive it or not. Your sister or cousin or neighbor may be receiving it. The school system. Various health programs, especially for kids. Housing programs. Child protective services.
All of these are both welfare and a cop -- very typical of the role of government to low-wage workers.
Maybe Ehrenreich didn't notice these because she didn't have children with her on her investigation.
Tom
Tom Waters
Bronx, New York
tjwaters at earthlink.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20010606/a71d3b08/attachment.htm>