Posted tagged ‘Minimum wage’

Must Reads For The Week 11/16/13

November 15, 2013
The pen is mightier than the sword...

The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

Obama Translated, at zerogedge.com. You need your political speak to english dictionary to understand what politicians say.

The Biggest Threat To Minimum Wage Restaurant Workers Everywhere?, at zerohedge.com. When the minimum wage is set above the value produced by the worker, businesses will find a lower cost substitute for the labor.

The Mirical Cure…? zerogedge.com. You can’t counterfeit your way to prosperity.

This Is How The President Plans To Un-Cancel Insurance Policies, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Unintended consequences happen when central planners try to plan what is still a qusi free market activity. It’s the same concept as trying to raise the minimum wage law above the market price.

The Economics Of Obamacare, by Robert P. Murphy, at mises.org. The laws of economics are always in play no matter what plans Governments make.

Top Sectors That Throw Money At Congress, economicplicyjournal.com. They all pay both sides of the aisle, it is called hedging their bets. When the difference is 65% or above, you have a good idea what that which party the better thinks will deliver the goods.

U.S. Oil Production At Highest Level Since January of 1989, by Mark J. Perry, at aei-ideas.org. Free markets work in spite of government plans to make drilling for oil more difficult.

Progressive Government Fails, by Daniel Henninger, at online.wsj.com. Quote from the article, “The essence of modern Democratic progressivism is: “You will participate in what we have created for you, and you will comply with the law’s demands.”

Does Washington Know Best? by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreveiw.com. The amount of knowledge needed to centrally plan an economic activity is impossible for Government to know. No one individual or bureau of individuals knows this knowledge in a free market. Prices convey and coordinate this knowledge. When Government messes with prices through regulation, taxes, and subsidies, well just look at the Obamacare mess. It will get worse as they try to fix it through more “planning”.

Central Planners Don’t See The Consequences Of Their Actions. Or Do They?

September 16, 2013
Cover of "Truth or Consequences"

Cover of Truth or Consequences

INTERVENTION PRODUCES CONSEQUENCES

When central planners intervene in the economy, they either think their interventions, A) will help, B) know they won’t help but want to look like they’re “doing something”, or C) know what the result of the interventions actually will be and lie about these results to the public. This means they are either, A)  ignorant, B) politically self-interested, C) evil, or D) all of above. Here are some recent examples of intervention that have or will lead to consequences that are either known or unknown by the implementors of these plans. You decide if they are born out of ignorance, political self-interest, or evil. The central planning devil or angel should not be judged by their intentions, they should be judged by the consequences of their actions. The difficulty comes in sifting through all the propaganda, or spin, as they like to call it, and find the actual results of their actions. Understanding economic principles helps pull out the nugget of truth. (more…)

Observations From The Margin

September 2, 2013
Observation Tower

Observation  (Photo credit: mooglet)

– Why is the administration so worried about civilians being killed in Syria, when it wasn’t worried about the civilians being killed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen by our drone strikes? Would the President have been ok with Assad if he had killed the same amount of civilians with drone strikes?

– The President is going to congress to seek authorization for the use of force in Syria for three reasons that I can see. 1) If congress doesn’t give him authorization, he can use it as a reason not to go in. It would essentially be his get out of jail free card from the “crossing the red line” jail of his own making. 2) If congress passes a resolution of force, “he” is no longer out on a limb by himself, if “we” attack and it doesn’t workout. 3) The length of time it will take to get this authorization (congress is back in session Sept. 9th), will put this issue so far in the rear view mirror, it will be “old news”. All of these give the president plenty of political cover, and that’s the most important thing to a politician.

– Thomas Sowell uses a term, “thinking beyond stage one”, Frederic Bastiat uses, “that which is seen, and that which is not seen”, when talking about the unintended consequences of a particular action. When it comes foreign policy, I don’t think the administration sees the long-term consequences of their stage one thinking.

– Why would you put off the implementation of something as wonderful as Obamacare, unless its implementation wouldn’t be so wonderful for you politically.

– Do the fast food workers who went on strike for higher wages from their employers realize they are angry at the wrong group of people. They shouldn’t be angry at their employers, they should be angry at consumers for not being willing to pay a higher price. The consumer ultimately pays the worker’s salary, and has no obligation to consume the same amount at the higher price. Remember when the cost of anything goes up, there will be less of that activity, and labor is no exception.

– I think the President should appoint a member of The Lavender Hill Mob, as the next Federal Reserve Chairman.

– When people get upset that congress is taking another recess, or the President is taking another vacation or playing another round of golf, instead of working; I always tell them we would be better off, and it would be less expensive, if we paid them double and sent them on a paid vacation for the duration of their terms. They couldn’t intervene into our lives, and we would be just fine.

– Minority children are usually helped the most by school voucher programs. The Justice Department is trying to block the Louisiana school voucher program, on the grounds that some of these students are in districts that remain under desegregation orders, and these vouchers would impede the desegregation process. Real children’s futures sacrificed to an imaginary God.

– I don’t understand all the hand wringing about concussions in football. I figured out concussions were probably a bad thing when I was playing 8th grade football. I tried to tackle, or I couldn’t get out of the way of, a guy who out weighed me by 50 pounds. I saw the flash of light when we collided, or when he ran over me, and I knew that wasn’t good. Every one knows the risks of playing football, and each person weighs these risks against the benefits and either keeps playing or quits playing.

Minimum Wage Laws Create Unemployment.

February 25, 2013
Economic theory suggests an excessive minimum ...

Economic theory suggests an excessive minimum wage may raise unemployment as it fixes a price above demand for labour, although a reasonable minimum wage enhances growth because when poorer workers have more to spend it stimulates effective aggregate demand for goods and services. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Read about what is in bold print below.

MINIMUM WAGE RHETORIC

In the State of the Union address, the President called for the minimum wage to be raised to $9 an hour. Politicians who propose minimum wage laws are trying to gain the moral high ground on the “morally inferior” people who oppose these laws, they are not trying to help low wage low skill workers. These politicians think that making a law mandating employers pay their employees higher wages, will fool the public into thinking they are morally superior to their opponents. They prey on the emotion of the public and hope the public will not analyse what happens when wages are set higher than they would be under unhampered market conditions. Unfortunately the consequences of the legislation turn out to be different from the utopian promises that the public, and the media, so desperately want to believe can be delivered.

MINIMUM WAGE REALITY

Labor is supplied on the market like any other good, but the public has been brainwashed by Marxist propaganda to believe that an individuals labor is special, and should not be subject to the morally neutral forces of supply and demand. (more…)