[Hoot Gibson]

I have a question, without getting into the debate of eliminating the min. wage or not.

How would you hire new people below the current min. wage if it were eliminated, and the current min. wage earners in you company kept their salary?

You would just offer them a lower starting wage. In some cases, companies would cut current salaries to reflect the supply of labor. In other cases, new employees might be hired at a rate above the current minimum wage, as they are now in areas of low unemployment.

The current system is really unfair because it does not take into account the local unemployment rate, availability of labor, or cost of living. Having the same minimum wage in areas with a low cost of living like Mississippi as areas with a high cost of living such as northern Virginia makes no sense. Allowing a free market to set the entry level wages would be a much more fair system.

Our welfare system (including unemployment benefits) would keep the actual starting wages from dropping too low, especially if our politicians began fulfilling their constitutional duty of securing our borders.