Should We Tip Minimum Wage Workers?

Just when everyone thought the Democratic Party was leaving South Dakota, it appears that a few white liberals are still trying to throw money at unsolvable problems.  Making welfare checks fatter or handing out more free food seems like a good idea to help people who are down and out.  Raising the minimum wage is another perennial misguided liberal effort.

      Minimum wage earners should follow the example of Laura Sumner who appeared in the local newspaper’s article about possibly raising the hourly standard.  She worked at the Pet Pantry store in Rapid City for six years on minimum wage.  This lifestyle was apparently good enough back then. But when a son came along, she pulled herself up by the bootstraps to now own the store.  Necessity itself was the motivating factor.

       Some people tend to be at at the bottom because of bad lifestyle choices earlier in life.  Wasting time in school, partying with friends, and watching trashy shows on television was good enough for them.  Others came from equally dysfunctional families who got by on welfare and food stamps, taking no time to help their children with homework or take them to church.

      In short, there will always be some people on the bottom of the social matrix.  Even if you lined up all the millionaires in South Dakota, someone would be on the bottom, another on the top.  The same with minimum wage.  Unless every state has exactly the same, then some state will be the lowest, relatively speaking.

      Perhaps deserving minimum wage workers should all wear badges that say “I’M A MINIMUM WAGE WORKER.  TIPS APPRECIATED.”  Why give automatic tips to already well-paid upscale restaurant waiters and waitresses?  Giving should be direct, from person to person, not forced through taxation, coerced out of sheer habit at restaurants, or anonymously donated to some abstract charity organization.

     Better yet, give some money directly from your wallet to anyone you spot who is deserving and seems to need it, especially those who aren’t asking for a handout.