Most internship activity is hardly minimum-wage work, even when it is “menial” work. Furthermore, the fact that highly intelligent, highly competitive, and highly motivated college students apply for - and compete for - internships at various companies testifies to the fact that the value of these positions is in the experience and skills gained rather than the wage that the positions pay. To the extent that the market is allowed to work, and companies and prospective interns have the FREEDOM pursue these relationships, internships provide value to both the company and the intern. You should find it somewhat unsettling that both you and Obama seem to have the same problem with the existing degree of market freedom and that you both object to the opportunity provided by these internships.
Oh, stop. We’re just going ‘round and ‘round here. I’ve told you repeatedly I’m for no minimum wage at all. But in my area internships are most often no longer nearly the lofty reward that they apparently still are in and around your experience. I’d be rid of them all and just let people negotiate their own price or nonprice. No big deal. But instead of selectively enforcing the minimum wage, I’d have all companies either pay it or not. Really, we’re both repeating ourselves at this point.