How much is unskilled labor worth?  For liberals, you might think the answer is an astronomical $15 an hour, the minimum wage many states have set, destroying jobs that cannot provide that much value.  But for libs, $15 an hour is just the starting point.

The Atlantic wrote a sob story about someone who took a part-time job delivering packages for Amazon for $18 an hour (which would eventually go up to $25).  Her anger and indignation explain what is wrong about the liberal entitlement mentality.

The Amazon Flex program lets workers deliver packages as independent contractors.  They can choose when and for how long they work.  It's an extremely flexible job that accommodates the need of people who have irregular part-time schedule.  The tradeoff, of course, is that it is not like a full-time job with full benefits, and contractors must pay costs (fuel and car repairs) themselves, which does eat into earnings.  But it is still a generous payment for unskilled labor.  But what irritated the Atlantic writer the most was that "good jobs" for unskilled labor are being replaced by independent contractors who are not being paid the same generous wages as they were in the past as employees.

Flex workers get no health insurance or pension, and are not guaranteed a certain number of hours or shifts a week.  They are not covered by basic labor protections like minimum wage and overtime pay, and they don't get unemployment benefits if they suddenly can't work anymore.

And why should they?  They aren't full-time employees.

One Amazon Flex driver in Cleveland, Chris Miller, 63, told me that though he makes $18 an hour, he spends about 40 cents per mile he drives on expenses like gas and car repairs.  He made slightly less than $10 an hour driving for Uber, he told me, once he factored in expenses; Flex pays a bit better.

Miller's wife has a full-time job with benefits, so his Flex earnings are helpful for paying off his family's credit-card bills.  But "if I were trying to make this work as a single guy on my own, it would be tough to do that," he said.

Who says a part-time job should be enough to support someone?  Liberals!

I was assigned 43 packages but only two addresses: two office buildings on Market Street, the main thoroughfare in downtown San Francisco.  This meant driving into downtown San Francisco in the middle of a workday, stashing my car somewhere and walking between floors and offices in the two buildings.

Instead of being grateful that she would have to drive to only one location, rather than ten or more around the city, the writer actually complains about it.

By some measures, delivering packages is one of the few "good" jobs left in America for people without college degrees.  The Teamsters represent roughly 260,000 UPS workers, who make around $36 an hour.  The American Postal Workers Union represents around 156,000 clerks and support workers, who make, on average, $75,500 annually, according to the union.

This is what libs want for temporary, unskilled package-deliverers.

All my frustration really hit when I went to the second office building on Market Street, home to a few big tech companies.  One of them took up multiple floors, smelled strongly of pizza, and had dog leashes and kibble near the front door.  Young workers milled around with laptops and lattes, talking about weekend plans.  They were benefiting from the technology boom, sharing in the prosperity that comes with a company's rapid growth.  Technology was making their jobs better – they worked in offices that provided free food and drinks, and they received good salaries, benefits, and stock options. 

Just look at the rage and envy in the above.  The writer was paid $70 for three and a half hours of work but was envious and resentful.

On my traffic-choked drive there, I passed a billboard showing a man who had made millions through Bitcoin sitting on a beach.

Liberals believe that unskilled, part-time labor should be paid far beyond its value, without thinking of the consequences on businesses, which are forced to pay up.  They fail to understand how the economy is changing with independent contractors to eliminate overpaid and under-skilled labor.  This article is a great read because it shows the naked greed and envy of liberals who have little to offer but a lot to ask for.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.