Nasty N.O. employers exploiting workers

In shock news recently, New Orleans employers were seen to be paying more for new employees in order to attract them back to the area. Burger King was offering to exploit those agreeing to work in one New Orleans outlet by offering a $6,000 signing on bonus, and the president of New Orleans-based Southern Electronics concedes he is exploiting workers by "paying two to three times as much as I would in normal circumstances." The shocking report from the New York Times notes

On any given day, contractors and business owners pass out fliers in downtown New Orleans promising $17 to $20 an hour, plus benefits, for people willing to swing a sledgehammer or cart away stinking debris from homes and businesses devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Canal Street, once a crowded boulevard of commerce, now resembles a sparsely populated open-air job fair.

Workers don't need minimum wage laws to life their wages: they just need the price system to be allowed to operate freely. If you're a worker and you're not being exploited, then you're just not doing it right.