Immigration Grandstanding By Ted Cruz Vandalizes Basic Economics

Forbes ^ | Nov 15, 2015 | John Tamny

[expat_panama]

Oops, I missed u on my post #59. Pse read and then say whether you agree that that supply by itself doesn’t affect wages.

[central_va]

What he said was "Wages are not a function of the supply of labor." Let's think. The US supply of labor is about 160 million. If another country has a much smaller supply it won't mean wages are higher or lower. Examples: Switzerland's labor force is less than 5 million yet their wages are much higher; the labor force in Botswana is even smaller at 1 million yet their wages are far lower. Wages depend on far more than just the supply of labor.

GloBULList gibberish.

[aquila48]

I also said “ Everything else being equal, it certainly is a function of number of workers.”

[Cen-Tejas]

.......this article is nothing more or less than another nutless white Anglo that loves Hillary and Obama. This article seeks to do nothing but put a scratch in Teds front right fender more or less like punks everywhere do when they scratch their key into a car they are jealous of.

[expat_panama]

Legal or illegal, they will destroy this country.

here legally...   ...You don't want me here?

PghBaldy doesn't care about the law and folks that don't care about the law are morons.  What morons want or don't want is of no import; it's only if they act on those preferences that we may have some work on our hands....  

[Hawthorn]

>> Wages are not a function of the supply of labor <<

Really a stupid and appallingly uninformed statement, unworthy of Forbes.

Wages, just like all other prices, are determined by the simultaneous interaction of demand AND supply. I'd say it's the most basic proposition in economics.

John Tamny needs to go back and (re?)read Alfred Marshall, perhaps the greatest price theorist of all time. Marshall said it's meaningless to ask whether supply or demand alone determines prices.

Marshall's famous analogy on the matter was to scissors, namely,

Which blade of the scissors cuts a piece of paper?

Answer:

Both blades simultaneously do the cutting, just as supply and demand interact simultaneously to set the price for any good or any service.

Bottom Line:

I don't think I'll bother again to read a piece by John Tamny. Not worth my time.

[expat_panama]

I also said "Everything else being equal,

He didn't.  I didn't.  "Wages are not a function of the supply of labor."  True if everything else is not equal.  False if everything else equal. "The guy is an economics ignoramus..."  That's not true because he never said 'everything else being equal'. 

Maybe we can agree that the guy's an ignoramous on what Cruz said.  This site said that the only one talking about immigration was Trump and that Cruz quotes about wages were this:

Sen. Ted Cruz Would "create a tax and regulatory environment to bring cash companies have stockpiled overseas back home to create jobs…the best way to promote growth would be creating a flat tax rate, regulation reform, and repealing the Affordable Care Act, the biggest job-killer in the country." Co-sponsored energy legislation that would create jobs: the Keystone XL Pipeline Act; amendments to expedite liquid natural gas (LNG) exports to World Trade Organization (WTO) members; repeal the ban on U.S. crude oil exports; and the North American Energy Infrastructure Act, which removes barriers to cross-border energy development, including the need for presidential approval of cross-border energy infrastructure.

[Timocrat]

This article is nonsense. It assumes an undifferentiated labor market. The majority of illegals are unskilled and compete with unskilled legal workers. Almost by definition incremental unskilled labor at the margin does not require much capital, if any, so illegals do take away from leagal unskilled workers. There are very few illegal skilled workers, other than those who have overstayed their student visas.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

If labor supply goes up and labor demand remains the same, the wages will go down. In the USA there is no indication we are having a huge or any increase in labor demand so therefore increasing the illegal labor supply will lead to wage declines.

It seems you are having trouble understanding that the Establishment’s long knives will do anything to destroy Cruz who refuses to kowtow.

Just because Forbes says that “Wages are not a function of the supply of labor”, does not make it true.

By the fact Forbes did publish this garbage indicates how far the Establishment will go to retain their power position.

[citizen]

...how about we abolish the car, computer, ATM and internet? All four would list in any measure of the biggest job destroyers in the history of mankind. All are "robots" of a sort that compete for work done by human beings. All are labor inputs just as immigrant workers are, but as evidenced by living standards that continue to rise in the United States, none have succeeded in driving down wages.

There's a textbook example of flawed logic. Or rather, faux logic designed to bolster an also flawed preconceived idea. It's a long-winded version of that old saying about lamenting the loss of the buggy whip industry. Bah!

Well, everyone has their viewpoint, I reckon. But this guy's [un]reasoning is a big FAIL.

[polymuser]

Read post 54 completely. And, had he said "Wages are not a function of the supply of labor alone." we'd not be arguing. That's not what he said.

[a fool in paradise]

If the 90 million adult Americans who are out of the labor force decided to go to work at a ‘street’ level job, rather than operate in some off the books underground economy, would the salaries are the above board jobs go up or down?

There are persons with degrees and experience of all types in this pool of 90 million whom Bama says are no longer ‘unemployed’.

[expat_panama]

...had he said "Wages are not a function of the supply of labor alone." we'd not be arguing...

Dang --if that's the biggest disagreement we could possibly have then you and I must be flippin' twin brothers!  Thanks, and cheers!