Forked the tragedy of heartland males thread

[v-600]

I was reading the http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2354396 thread and quite seperately watching QI on youtube.

One of the linked vids was this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPZed8af9RI about the US prison population.

I realise the video is a little out of date, but I would guess its still representative of the situation in the US. I also started to wonder if the two topics are linked. As Stephen Fry quipped if you won't work for 25c an hour you're in solitary, is that what a worker is worth? If that is true, then is it any wonder that people make comments like

1) Capitalism, specifically its encouragement of making use of the economies of scale, has warped the pyramid structure that initially represented the workforce of many industries. Now there is only ever need for a few workers at the top, few to none in the middle section, and a vast base of minimally paid workers at the bottom.

The problem with that fantasy is that it is only a fix for a small percent of the people that are actually in trouble. The vast majority of people would quickly find themselves in the same bind no matter how skilled they got. That is just the nature of the job market.

Get 200 million people skilled up with degrees in engineering and hard sciences and those jobs will pay $8.50 an hour. Higher skill sets earn better money because there are few people with them, not because the skills are inherently more valuable.

My initial thoughts are: 1 - surely 1% of all adults in jail is a problem that needs fixed for its own sake?
2 - would paying a prisoner who is in jail for life for taking 4 cookies a reasonable wage benefit everyone?