> More to the point, not every skill level or job is _worth_ that kind of compensation ...
This is a fair stance to take, but you need to accept the consequences of the stance when people get desperate.
> attempts to circumvent market forces by making lower wages illegal at some arbitrary point have substantially more damaging externalities than 'low wages'
A population of people who can not feed themselves are going to kill you on the street for the canned tuna you might have in your bag.
> Having lost a job suddenly, any employment is better than none.
While this is true for you it is not true for the society as a whole.
This entire comment seems be written with a complete disrespect for macro dynamics and taken right out of a hunter gather society.
It completely ignores everything modern governance - and it is quite frightening.