How lack of economic freedom hurts the poor

Two items from the last week caught my eye.

First, Coyote Blog has an outstanding post based on personal case studies on how minimum wage laws hurt retirees. It's easy to see the immediate narrow benefits of higher paid workers, but it's more difficult to see the unseen broader harms suffered by the marginal worker. [via Mises Blog]

Second, Natalie Solent posts a line from an advertisement by the charity Christian Aid in the Guardian which reads,

As a Christian and former collector for Christian Aid herself, Natalie urges her readers not to give to this charity.

Protectionism and minimum wage laws have similar mechanisms of hurting the poor: making trade at the margin illegal.