Could we please dispense with the standard 'ironic' stuff about the United States being the only country that does not have (fill in the blank with the social program being peddled by the writer)? In this case, it is supposed to be paid maternity leave. A good friend of mine just got back from Tanzania, which is not on the bad-country list with regard to paid maternity leave, and I want to assure the unworldly bloggers at XX-factor that Tanzania may have laws requiring such a policy, but that is meaningless in a country where children are routinely kidnapped by sapphire bandits who think there is a connection between killing children and finding precious gems, and where wife-beating is routine. I'm sure Tanzania has laws against that, too. The fallacy here is confusing written laws with how people actually live - and why.

It is depressing to have to restate the obvious, but if employers are required to lard up employment with a lot of politically-mandated entitlements, someone else will pay for them, as Europe's chronically high unemployment (especially among the young) and low growth rates over the past 25 years suggests. Last year Congress raised the minimum wage; this year there is a shortage of summer jobs; but conventional MSM journalists still need a road map to get from one to the other, and still refuse to acknowledge that in the real world there are real trade-offs in every social program and political action.

Do you think the shortage of summer jobs might have anything to do with, I dunno, four dollar gas and the mortgage loan crisis? I took delivery yesterday of a load of supplies for my dad and right at the bottom is the new "fuel surcharge." People are taking "staycations" and saving every penny they have. We just had the worst June since 1930 and that's WITH the stimulus checks out there (which checks are an advance, and not free money as everyone wants to pretend). A whole new crop of adjustable-rate mortgages are about to reset and we haven't seen the bottom of this financial mess. I really can't blame the chick making minimum wage (35 hours a week with no benefits) at the store for this. As Chris Rock says, "If your boss is paying you minimum wage, it means, if he could pay you less, he would."

Advn2rgirl,

Sorry, I'm just getting to this (if you are still there) . . . of course the minimum wage is not the only factor in the shortage of summer jobs. But it doesn't help. If the minimum wage is such a good idea, why not boost it to $15 an hour? How about $20? Because at that point even the most ardent supporters of the idea would have to concede that wages and prices set by politicians have a distorting effect that almost always ends up hurting the people they purport to want to help.

It's up to employers and wage-earners to negotiate the value of the service provided, not cheap and economically illiterate politicians. Employers, as you should now from your note, have to compete for labor, too. Why do you think they are relying on the safety valve of illegals from Mexico? I can't pass a construction site without hearing Spanish spoken by the people doing the heavy lifting.

Europe has all kinds of rules about wages and perks and working conditions that American liberals want to bring here. As a result, the youth unemployment rate in France (favored model nation of the starry-eyed, who apparently don't get away from the tourist spots and out to the banlieues) has been something like 20% for years no. They've had riots over this. It's the usual contention - the government can do more of it, the government can do it better, and it ain't gonna cost anybody (except for a few faceless billionaires) anything.

Appreciate your civil response, though.