Free Republic

The nationwide minimum wage, coupled with pension reforms, could reverse a long decline in people working off the books in Germany, and even prompt an increase, according to a study released on Tuesday. The study, from Tübingen’s Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW), working with models from the Austria’s Linz University, said government reforms, including a national minimum hourly wage of €8.50 ($11.49), and retirement for some at 63, could lead to more earnings disappearing from official records. The national minimum wage, which is set to be introduced next year, could encourage employers to hire people off the books in...

A hailstorm brought the useful life of my mother's roof to an end this summer. An acquaintance of mine came to the house, gave Mom a bid, and left with a deposit check. When his crew arrived a few days later, their appearance shocked my mother. Apparently, she had expected the 2010 counterparts of Archie Bunker and Ralph Kramden. Instead, she had six workers, one of whom could speak English...sort of. In a recent American Thinker essay, Christopher Chantrill explored the motivations that might lead a new contractor to hire "undocumented" workers rather than tax-paying, on-the-books, legal workers. By tacking...

We are becoming two Americas -- not the familiar complaint about the rich and the poor, but rather the regulated and the off-the-books Americas. Last week, Victor Davis Hanson wrote about the hollowed-out society in the Central Valley around his native Fresno, California.  He wrote: I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking...