Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect World ( only too evident ) where companies/ firms / businesses; pay their employees enough money to be able to live without help from anybody else, something ( I'm sure ) all but a small minority would do.....if they could. The truth is that the "Wage" bill is always the highest outlay for most businesses and to increase that substantially, would decimate their profits. Not a bad thing, I hear some of you say, however businesses run to make profit & by making a profit; expand and therefore employ more people. The one thing that spoils ALL this, is the fact that we are only talking domestically; whereas trade now takes place on a WORLD stage. In that world, we have to TRY to compete with Countries like China, India & Brazil; where the wage bill is ( in some instances ) a QUARTER that of OUR average wage bill. Added to the fact, that their standard of lifestyle is quite a bit lower than ours; with goods, food and raw materials ALL being considerably cheaper than they are here. In some cases, you work or starve; because there's no benefits to be had and you live a standard that you can afford to pay for. Now, I'm not preaching the rights and wrongs of the way things really are; but in an unfair World that's the unfair, uneven playing field on which ultimately we are going to have to survive.