[shados]

Thats still all relative though. If everyone made between 10-15 bucks an hour, 15 bucks an hour would be enough to pay for anything that matters. Chinese investors aside, the reason an elementary school teacher might have trouble affording an apartment in Manhattan is because they're competing with people who can afford them. Such as the s/w engineer with the cushy job.

[samcal]

Right, the problem might arise from when you have some people making $9/hr and others making on the order of $1k-100k/hr. Those two groups both occupy and influence the markets, and if you don't keep that gap small enough you risk people not being able to afford the cost of living. I agree that if you paid everyone $10-15/hr, no one would be producing any goods that no one could afford.