[FluffyKitty]

I believe the usual answer to this is that you need a certain percentage of working poor to do the types of menial tasks we haven't been able to automate yet. If they could make more money elsewhere who would do those jobs? If those jobs suddenly paid more, than the price of food would go up and then we would have other problems. I think a key example is the current shortage of farm hands in California [1]. It's causing the price of some produce to go up, and also leading to some wasted crops.

Now, I'm not arguing that it _should_ or has to be this way. I'm just highlighting the usual arguments made when discussing why the rich may conspire to keep some people poor.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2018/05/03/607996811/worker-shortage-hur...