Posted on 02/15/2021 1:20:36 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
With Joe Biden as president, the days of the national minimum wage at its present $7.25 per hour may soon be gone. It will likely be raised to $15 or more and also indexed for inflation, whether it is stuck into a COVID bill or sent to Congress on its own.
But this enactment would be a joblessness bill for “the least, the lost and the last” among us, the very people who suffer the most economic hardship.
The unemployment created by this pernicious legislation always attacks the poor and the unskilled, precisely the people who can least afford it. But it is even more crucial to understand this economic law in the age of pandemic, given present high unemployment rates. Let us, then, more clearly understand the malevolent effects of this unwise legislative enactment.
What determines wages? At what level would wages register were there no laws on the books whatsoever regarding this matter?
The long answer is that discounted marginal revenue product, DMRP, or productivity for short, determines wage levels. What, in turn, is that? Many people talk about productivity, and we all know, roughly, what it means, but what are the exact specifications of this concept? It is all about how much you add to the firm’s bottom line.
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If the business receipts rise by $5 for every hour you are on the shop floor, or behind the counter, or pushing a broom, then that is the level of your productivity. We posit, here, that the reason for the increase in sales is solely due to your efforts, all else held constant.
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...
Good old Walter. Thanks for posting from him. He’s probably the leading Libertarian Anarchist economist still around.
Always a good read...
The actual minimum wage is ZERO, and nothing politicians do can change it.
So, just because the Democrats want us to eat a shit sandwich, you say that the only alternative is for us to propose a diarrhea casserole instead?
Don’t back bad policy because you think bad policy is better than no policy.
I don’t think it’s a bad policy.
Think about what I’m proposing.
It links any increases in the minimum wage to low unemployment. It stops increases if unemployment doesn’t stay low.
It increases tariffs if unemployment doesn’t stay low.
And it even provides a mechanism for tariffs to come down, if unemployment does go low.
At the same time, it gives the Democrats a path to what they want, while providing limits tied to the most common objections.
You’re ignoring one major fact: THERE SHOULD NOT BE A MINIMUM WAGE.
Just because you’re proposing that the shit sandwich be served on rye instead of wheat doesn’t make it taste any better.
America doesn't agree with you if this Rasmussen poll is correct. 74% think the wage should go higher while only 12% think it should be at $15.
Rasmussen Poll:few_americans_support_15_minimum_wage_in_their_state
I say institutionalize a process that brings common sense to it. And is protective of the economy and works in favor of the economy. As opposed to being subject to political whims.
You could even bind it by adding additional conditions like:
Or you could put some sort of cap on the minimum wage relative to total US income, so that min wage earners could not be raised above a level that pays out 2% of the total US income. (I pulled 2% out of thin air. It's probably too high.) Since the number of min wage earners fluctuate that might be hard to adminster.
Setting economic policy based on polls is ridiculous. If you polled the average American and asked them if they would like the government to give them a million dollars, I’m sure 74% of them would say yes.
The minimum wage is bad policy, every time, all the time. You should crack an economics textbook sometime.
Oh, and for the record: someone who confused the words “medium” and “median,” as you did in your most recent post, has absolutely no business pontificating about economics.
Many companies play games with welfare (Walmart) so their workers total compensation is much higher than $15 hr
You could set a control based on either median or medium.
The point is, it provides a limit tied to overall economic progress and inflation.
Here is the thing.
Go to walmart. Go to a packing plant. Those jobs are minimum wage jobs where the company works very hard to tell the workers how to get WIC, welfare, and food stamps.
So in effect, I AM PAYING THEM THE DIFFERENCE!
I do not like subsidizing Tyson when they undercut farmers, raise prices to the grocery stores, and then cut wages.
Like all Democrat “ideas”, they haven’t thought it through, or they have and use it as a way to crash the economy. I have one client who hires us to clean, cook, do laundry about 30 hours a week as she is bedridden. It costs her close to $30,000 a year and she pays this privately. Imagine the cost to taxpayers for similar people who get services through Medicare or State funds?
Peruse later.
There is no such thing as “medium wage.” Do you think that typing word salad makes you sound smarter?
Medium wage is the same as average wage or mean wage.
Excellent article, thanks for posting.
The REAL minimum wage is $0, and that is what jobseekers get when they cannot offer the value of the official “minimum wage” to an employer.
Economics 101, supply, demand, and price.
Maybe you should take some of your own advice.
You said, “MEDIUM WAGE.” In fact, you said it twice! I know what median and mean are. Now, please define “medium wage.”
Sure, I’ll play along. Show me on that webpage, or any webpage, where “medium wage” is defined as an economics term.
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