I keep encountering people who are obsessed with the minimum wage and who think if it is raised it will destroy the economy. (By the way, I've owned businesses in which I worked 60 hours a week but still couldn't hire anyone, so I know what minimum wages do).
Yet these OCD types don't understand the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank some 100 years ago the dollar has lost about 98% of its value through inflation. It got especially bad when Nixon went off the gold standard in '71, which means there were no brake on inflation at all. And Alan Greenspan, who was the worst head of the Fed ever, has really done a number on the value of the dollar.
They don't understand corporations are creations of the State and have the legal status of persons, and that the purpose of them is to use the power of the State to exploit everyone.
They don't understand the economy has at least doubled since 1980 but none of that increase went to workers.
They don't know wages peaked in January 1973 and have been flat and declining since then. And you can blame every bit of that on interference by government in the economy.
They don't understand the mean IQ is 100 and these people are not going to be retrained for high-paying jobs - which don't exist.
They don't understand that if wages had continued to rise as they had during the '50s, the average salary would be close to $100,000 a year.
They don't know that Wal-Mart and McDonalds are two of the biggest tax-money whores in the U.S. What both corporations do is called "privatizing the benefits and socializing the costs." They make the money and the taxpayers pay for medical and food cards and Section 8 housing.
They don't know massive immigration has lowered wages.
They know none of these things. All they know is the minimum wage.
P.S. I know a man who made $53,000 last year. The feds took out $9000 - and said he owes another $126. And people wonder why they're struggling economically.
13 comments:
Joshua Holland — All of the Arguments Against Raising the Minimum Wage Have Fallen Apart (via Moyers & Company)
http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2014/03/joshua-holland-all-of-arguments-against.html
http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/search?q=minimum+wage+
dipshit mouth breathers like Glen Filthy? Yeah, I thought so too.
HAR HAR HAR! Awesome, Anders! :)
I for one would welcome a minimum wage hike. The higher, the better!
It would gut the low skill/low IQ labour market (where Anders currently thrives, no doubt)- and with a glut of cheap labour, all the illegals and third world trash would be better off going back home. In the meantime, Anders and his fellow cellar dwellers would swamp the useless social programs by overloading them with like minded parasites - and the greasy hippies and socialists would learn that food, healthcare and public services they take for granted - are not rights. They are commodities and if you can't pay for them, social justice dictates that you shouldn't get them.
I don't think it would kill us to make our own burgers, or for stupid people to shop at flea markets rather than Walmart! The tanking economy would also serve to flush the current affirmative action POS in the Oval Office down the crapper where he belongs. As my good buddy, Vox Day says, just as gravity always wins - so too does the market.
Corporations are not the bogeymen that commies and stupid people make them out to be, and contrary to Bob, people have never had it so good as they do right now. Look at your grandparents from the Dirty 30's if you doubt this.
Unca Bob is not completely full of chit...but some of his stuff has to be taken under advisement.
Fred Reed is certainly not an economist either, and makes some of the same mistakes Bob does...but does a slightly better job of the topic in my scholarly opinion.
;)
http://www.fredoneverything.net/Fredbraith.shtml
Minimum wage does not help the small business or 'mom and pop' stores if those still exist much anymore. Why bother with minimum wage? Why not set prices as well? I mean come on, go all out here if that really works. Don't forget that your local and state government are subject to those wage laws, so they have to get that money from somewhere to pay it. Many counties in South Texas and elsewhere are already impoverished. So don't complain about the taxes due.
But yes, getting rid of the Federal Reserve and returning to something of value for payment would help a lot for most people. And as a working stiff I hate politicians from either party wringing their hands about 'no middle class' but somehow abolishing or cutting the federal income tax or other taxes just never seems to make it on the table.
What is Constitutional Money?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u68uXN01IMc
I agree with Bob on this one, he is basically 100% correct.
I'm not hugely fond of raising the minimum wage though for exactly the reasons Glen illustrates, too easy to get around. Better to reduce and reverse immigration and move to a basic income guarantee and no minimum wage
Since there is no need for a minimum wage and many businesses that have cool jobs like a bookstore can legally get by paying a pittance or in kind.
Undesirable jobs like fast food (been there, done that) or cleaning will have to pay a bit more but oh well
Let me add something though every time you arbitrage wages down either by not keeping wages up with inflation, by outsourcing or yes even by automation you might as well vote Democrat or Socialist and get it over with.
Heck if the Democrats weren't so stupid and turned so overly Leftist, the Republicans would have been gone decades ago and frankly good riddance. The only really decent Republicans are the Paleo-Con Non Interventionists like Pat Buchanan
You see Glen it doesn't matter that many people aren't worth what they are paid.
Of course they aren't . Having had to hire trash for far too much money I am well aware of this.
However good wages are the cost of a 1st world society and a functional civilization. Pay them to workers or to the State when you taxes go up to fund a welfare state> Choose wisely.
You can't stint and expect everything to work. simply it won't, not for very long and as we are seeing now.
Lower wages and Cultural Marxism is what got us into the mess we are in now and we can't get rid of the later without addressing the former
My solutions, I'd say there are four
Repatriation of illegals and non assimilated immigrants, 30-50 million or so along with an huge reduction in new immigration (90% reduction would be fine)
An end to economic liberalism and a move to protectionism and trading blocs with other 1st world countries where possible. we still need oil fracking or not and some minerals but we don't need to trade with China for example. Cheap goods in the name of efficiency be damned, make it here and employ Americans or do without.
A lowered work week to match up with automation job losses.
That should start the ball rolling and if it doesn't
well part #2
Lower military spending. Really ISIS not withstanding, we don't face any real threats that wouldn't end up in Armageddon, so a modest military should be fine. More nukes and subs less bases
Move to a basic income guarantee (remember virtually no immigration) with no extra money for parents.
Last taxes that keep the budget near balanced.
If you won't pay people to work or machines are much better, so be it, the State will do the redistribution and put everyone on SSI
This will stabilize the US economy, clean up the distribution issues and while it won't be as good as if the 50's style wages Bob mentioned were possible, that's fine. automation and more expensive energy ended that anyway
Taken one at a time, ABP:
Immigration - the doors should be slammed shut. Everyone knows that the real unemployment rate is easily double the published gov't figures. We don't need immigrants as long as we have an unemployment rate. We can't employ the people we have, we have a glut of low skill/low IQ vibrants and ethinic diversity. FO, we're full!
Protectionism: No. The markets must be free to punish those that refuse to compete or be productive. Without that - we end up with entitled welfare niggers like Obama and Sharpton, and supporting their buddies - the union slobs of Detroit and The Big Three. America is producing shit these days. The fact is you can and should buy the better, cheaper products being made in the Pacific Rim countries and the second and third worlds. They are working to better themselves and their products, they should be rewarded for it - and American pooch screwers deserve to lose their jobs to people that take pride in their work. I will decide what businesses I will patronize - not the gubbermint. You cannot be for freedom and protectionism at the same time.
The Military - you are looking at ISIS and scoffing. I am looking at Putin...and I don't like what I see. He is smart, he is tough as nails, and he is ambitious. Obama's a weakling and an idiot and Putin knows it. The moslems are mere animals that don't pose near the threat that Putin does. He's taken the Ukraine and nobody blinked an eye. The mudflaps burned a POW and it's all over Youtube. Interesting times are upon us. Greece is tanking and about to take the rest of Europe with it, and Fwance and Germany will both be latter day Weimer Republics - both infested with militant moslems. All that powder keg needs is a match - and guys like you want to gut the military! How many times do you have to do this? You were caught with your pants down in WW1, and in WW2 your shirts and underpants were in the wash too - and you damn near lost that war. The military needs more spending, and the politically correct 4 gender social bullshit policies have to go. The gays, the clownish female fighters in combat roles, the lesbian naval captains... all need to be flushed out. The military needs to get serious again.
Taxes: our gubbermints have far too much money. So much, that they can't tell where it's being spent or on what. Social programs are routinely abused and mismanaged. We need a flat tax system. You should be able to do your taxes in 15 minutes on the kitchen table with a simple 4 function calculator. A flat tax of 15% for individuals, and maybe 18% for corporations.
Privatization: this should be encouraged and promoted. Anyone that doubts this is encouraged to watch what happens with Obamacare. Just wait until America's elderly baby booming democrats, the champagne socialists, and the enlightened progtards - find themselves lining up behind illegals, welfare scum and homeless turdies for critical care. Care which they have paid in full for - that they now give to people that haven't paid a cent!
That is just for starters. There are other problems but by far, these are among the biggest.
We agree 100% on immigration Glen, well, OK I want repatriation but hey room for compromise right?
I understand your concerns about Putin, he is smart, ambitious and crafty and of course former KGB.
As such I actually buy the idea of him wanting a Greater Russia.
We also agree on making the military a more serious institution.
However the Muslim and African issues and Putin are not American problems. They are European ones.
Unless someone invades a US territory, province or possession, not our deal.
The Europeans can in fact build weapons and train soldiers and need to be made to do this or face Dhimmitude or becoming Russian satrapys. If they are doing their part and still losing, well we can help out.
As it is though, our military spending is paying for their welfare state. I resent that and if we are going to pay for a welfare state, I want my own people to have it. Europe can handle its own affairs for pone
Also compared to some of our friend, Putin is exactly who we need as an ally . He is after all encouraging Orthodox Christianity, something akin to a market state and something akin to family values as well.
We really ought to be friendly with Russia not doing Cold War 2 Electric Bugaloo and propping up the corrupt and Nazis states and worse.
As for protectionism, well trade with peers is valuable but I don't want American workers competing with slave labor or nations with no environmental standards just to save a dime.
Compete on quality with peers? Hell Yeah.
Compete on cost with slave states or dangerous rivals (China) or states with no pollution control just to save a dime? No thanks..
You still can have personal freedom without economical liberalism with peer trade.
What libertarians and other people who argue from from an ideology ("you can't have liberty and protectionism!") and put ideological consistency at a premium don't understand is that the rest of the world doesn't care about their sacrosanct rules, or Ayn Rand or the things that nice little libertarians think that they should care about.
Things like comparative advantage go out the window when the 90%+ of Japanese will only buy Japanese cars and 90%+ of Koreans will only buy Korean cars. Each year, these countries ships hundreds of thousands of vehicles to the US and import only thousands of our vehicles in return. Now, Ford has been making great consumer cars that have been competitive here, in europe and elsewhere for a long while now. Why won't people in these countries consider a Taurus? These are not only nations we're trading with; They're extended families pursuing their group interest at the expense of us and the free trade fundamentalists who've destroyed our industry and economy. Free traders love Japanese cars but no country has subsidized and protected its auto industry more than Japan. Many of the countries our free trade cheerleaders love so much have little or no environmental or labor laws and no concerns about using currency manipulation, tariffs or any other economic policy that would make a good libertarian scream murder if our own government did them.
I remember reading an article by Jeffrey Tucker (who's a good writer, seems like a nice guy) about how great it was that the Japanese had completely destroyed the American piano industry back in the 60's. This was a good thing because it did away with waste and inefficiency. He wrote about how we must learn to love this destruction because it is a victory for rationalism, and policy intervention that would protected the US industry would have been a violation of the laws of reason. There was the usual libertarian handwaving about the tens of thousands of people left unemployed by this. The implication of course was that this was the future of all American industry, so get used to it.
It was about this time that I decided that libertarianism was total bullshit.
Wealth in America isn't about whether you have tech goo-gaws but about whether you can find a steady job, afford a house, a wife and kids, the quality of the women available to you, and who you have to live next door to. Things are worse for Americans in every way that matters. The libertarian response to this is: "look, ipads! Grandad sure didn't have those."
Exactly, Rusty. Great comment
If some nation isn't buying our stuff by policy or by design or just can't unless they have a strategic resource we need, its not our obligation to trade with them.
A little flexibility won't hurt mind, as long as American industries are strong and our best good and produce are sold here first, say if Japan buy as lot of booze and we buy a lot of cars, I have no issue with a situation where certain goods categories are uneven.
Speaking of dip shits who don't understand economics:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-hollywood-tricked-you-into-hating-poor-people/#ixzz3SavinNNw
The Japanese have been free traders when that is what was good for Japan and protectionists when that was good for Japan. It almost as though they're not running their economy based on some sort ideology/religion substitute.
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