In response to an article written by Celine Ge and edited by Stephanie Wong from Bloomberg News (http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-25/macau-workers-demand-10-raise-in-threat-to-ring-casinos.html)

This an amazing article that demonstrates the close ties of international law, and why we, as a country, need to be concerned with the world at large.

The US’s biggest gamblers flock to Macau regularly to take advantage of a week system built on profit margins and not on the people shouldering it’s growing ego. Dealers in the United States make a base salary like waiters and waitresses, and it is common practice to tip a dollar, or half of the mandatory amount required to play, every hand. In essence, good dealers in the United States, dealing at the lowest stakes, are able to make, roughly $30/Hr. Which, when accounting for regularly un-taxable earned income, that number stretches closer to $40/Hr. This is just the the low end. My sister, who is a nurse and going into her first year of graduate school, makes ~$26/Hr. at an entry level position. She needs to work overtime to even come close to that amount.

If we are going to allow such a large industry, that supports so many others across the board, and outsource to a more corrupt political system, we fail. This doesn’t mean let’s start cutting wages to improve profit margins of a corrupt industry and debase ourselves. We must recognize the reasons that explain decreasing profits in the US. by aiding in the foreign effort to raise minimum wages in Macau. We not only de-incentivize our biggest contributors from leaving, we are supporting the American dream of owning a house and raising a family in financial confidence.