[Taliesan]

They range from the minimum wage to environmental regulations to consumer protection laws to the employment benefits structure.

These don't raise incomes, they reduce them. They impose value judgments onto the ruthless efficiency of the marketplace.

I'm saying those value judgements should not be imposed, just that these are not institutions for increasing incomes. They are institutions for the limiting of incomes, for non-economic values.

Certainly one of the marks of civilization is the enshrinement of non-economic values in institutions. We should just call them what they are.

[Taliesan]

OOOPs, I meant "I am NOT saying these values should not be imposed...'

[AntiGuv]

Hmmm.. You raise some quite interesting points. I'll have to give them some thought & also ponder how they relate to the specific debate at hand.

FWIW, this has been a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately (the desirability & advisability of income redistribution as well as the overall impact of outsourcing, illegals, etc.) Yes, I confess I've been following the Exporting America series by Lou Dobbs.. ;^)