A lot has beeen made of the Democrat's attempt to exempt American Somoa from the increase in minimum wage just voted by the House. The Republicans point to the Democrat's hypocricy, and perhaps that is what it was. Personally I think that if we want to have a minimum wage, it should not be the same over all US territory. Economic conditions are far different in New York City than in Omaha or Abilene, Texas. Certainly conditions in American Somoa are far different than in New York. An increase in minimum wage in American Somoa will result in thousands of people becoming unemployed, not becasue Del Monte is a cruel employer, but because Del Monte will no loner be competitive with foreign canned tuna suppliers. Many states have minimum wage laws that are higher than the Federal Law. There are even problems with that approach since economic conditions often are enough different across a given state that a common state-wide minimum wage is impractical. A minimum wage law is not a good idea economically, but if politicians want to pass such a feel-good law, they should probably recognize that it shouldn't be the same everywhere. I wonder if Democrat's will approach this problem for American Somoa but imposing a tariff on foreign tuna suppliers. More laws and regulation is the Democrat's solution to all problems.