I was really surprised by the inability of so many clearly intelligent people to get what I mean when I say it wouldn’t necessarily be a great leap forward if busboys made $10 an hour. I assumed my point was pretty obvious: that the inflation inherent to a huge increase in the cost of unskilled labor would have ripple effects. Now I’m not referring to people who dispute that a cutoff in illegal immigration would inflate wages. That’s an entirely different economic argument. I’m referring to the large number of people who write to say “Why don’t you think busboys should make a decent living?” “Why are you cheap?” “What do you have against busboys?”

People intuitively understand that, say, $5 per gallon for gas would put inflationary pressure on the whole economy. Why isn’t it equally obvious that if busboys and dishwashers cost a lot more, employers would hire fewer of them and would charge more for their products? Maybe I should have said $20 an hour? I really don’t get it. Am I missing something?