[redpoint5]

Westerners abuse themselves and those that actually suffer slavery by equating (arbitrarily defined) low wage labor with actual slavery.

As Sowell says, the real minimum wage is zero. If someone trades their time voluntarily, they have decided the benefit outweighs the alternative. That holds true for absolutely every scenario.

That said, I have long held that 1st world wages will increasingly have to compete in a global economy. Especially now that distributed work has accelerated, the global workforce is more accessible. That's great news, as competition delivers the best to the most. I might have to try harder in the future, but c'est la vie.

Oregon minimum wage is now $13.50, so we've decided jobs below that level are worthless. Automation will continue to carve away the bottom end of the labor market, increasing the number of dispossessed.