The minimum wage

Two Republican senators do battle today on the opinion pages of the Los Angeles Times. The first, Sen. Tom McClintock, argues that raising the minimum wage is a bad idea. THE MOST important thing for any poor person trying to improve his or her condition is, of course, a job. It is the entry-level job that accords impoverished workers — even those with no skills, no references and no employment record — the invaluable opportunity to succeed and to prosper. It is literally the first rung up the ladder of success. If that is true, then the most vicious governmental policy would be one that eliminates entry-level jobs, making it harder for the poor to get a foothold in life. Yet that is precisely what the state of California is preparing to do. Legislation is now moving through the Legislature that would in effect declare that anyone whose labor is worth less than $7.75 an hour will be denied entry-level employment. On the other side is GOP Sen. Abel Maldonado, who carried the governor's bill to raise the minimum wage that was shot down in committee last week (or maybe the week before). He argues: I KNOW FIRSTHAND how the minimum wage affects California's low-wage earners and small-business employers. As a young man, I worked long hours in the strawberry fields alongside my father, who also worked for minimum wage. My mother and father understood the daily struggle of providing the necessities for their children while earning only the lowest allowable wage. Later on, through years of hard work, faith and perseverance, my parents turned a half-acre strawberry farm into a 6,000-acre family business that today employs more than 200 people and ships produce around the world. To this day they have not forgotten their roots or the times when our family went without, and you can be sure they have instilled this appreciation into my siblings and me.