[Darren]

Between 1979 and 1997, the GDP of the U.S. increased by 38%. During that same period the median salary increased by only 9 %. At the start of that same period (1979), the income of the richest 1% of American famillies was ten times that of the median. In 1997, that ratio had increased to 23 times the median.*

So the money is there, it's just not being distributed fairly. Those on the bottom of the economic ladder are already suffering, even if they work, there being no guarantee that any work they do will be fairly remunerated. Those on the top are becoming richer and richer and the gap between rich and poor is dramatically widened.
It is clear that some areas are worse off than others, it is these areas which need to be prioritized through economic assistance. There is little incentive in a free market economy to develop poor zones. In fact, the opposite is the case, since such zones provide an abundant supply of cheap labour.
A minimum wage, coupled with other planned measures of income distribution, could remove the precarious situation many famillies face in the U.S. - the down side Waluigi referred to being daily reality for about 40 million people in the U.S. It seems pretty clear that the free market works for some and leaves others behind (as one might expect), and that it is disastrous for much of humanity.



*Figures ultimately from (PNUD) Global Report on Human Development - Paris, Economica - 2002