Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Min. Wage Hike = Summer Camp Job Killer

ALBEMARLE, N.C. -- The minimum wage is set to rise in North Carolina next month but the effects are already being felt at summer camps around the state. The wage hike’s strain on some already tight budgets could mean fewer counselors to look after the children.

Some camps have already cut field trips to save money. And now they must try to get by with fewer counselors.

HT: Frank Stephenson

16 Comments:

At 6/16/2009 10:02 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

I am fine with repeated posts on the minimum wage. How about a few posts in the evils of the Department of Agriculture?

 
At 6/16/2009 11:05 PM, Blogger Hot Sam said...

Well, even Hitler had summer camp for the Nazi Youth.

Grosse gruene Klackse der schmierigen schmutzlich Gopher-eingeweide...

 
At 6/17/2009 5:48 AM, Blogger bob wright said...

If a minimum wage is a good thing, why not make it meaningful? Shouldn't it be something like $40,000 per year? Why stop at $7/hr? Who can support a family on $7/hr? Minimum wage supporters should explain why they condemn minimum wage earners to poverty.

 
At 6/17/2009 6:06 AM, Blogger Jason Gillman said...

Minimum wage is merely one tool in a complete set that is used to remove the ownership of a business from the individual. It is a rights buster.

And then in Michigan SUB minimum is being used to fill some positions that are still available. 15-16yo? no problem.. turn 17 you are fired.

The unintended complications of such thing still don't matter to most of the people who promote such garbage as minimum wage anyhow. It still has the perceived affect of keeping the Union wages high because of contracts based on the minimum as a base.

 
At 6/17/2009 9:38 AM, Blogger Dave Narby said...

One of the good things about the massive deflation that isn't over yet is that it will either:

A: Require a reduction in the minimum wage.

B: Create a spike in the underground cash economy, which will hasten any recovery.

 
At 6/17/2009 3:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Minimum wage is merely one tool in a complete set that is used to remove the ownership of a business from the individual."

It also removes the ownership of an individual from the individual. Why can't I trade my time and effort for a value under the minimum wage?

 
At 6/17/2009 3:08 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


Minimum wage is merely one tool in a complete set that is used to remove the ownership of a business from the individual.

It also removes the ownership of an individual from the individual.

Hardly.

It keeps the businesses out of slavedriving and unaware individuals away from slave-driving businesses.

 
At 6/17/2009 3:10 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


If a minimum wage is a good thing, why not make it meaningful?

It's supposed to be a minimum, not a "let's conflate the point" value.

 
At 6/17/2009 3:59 PM, Blogger Hot Sam said...

It's supposed to be a minimum, not a "let's conflate the point" value.

It is indeed a fallacy Seth, but not a conflation. Bob's fallacy is "if some is good, then more must be better."

Clearly there is a wage above which even an ardent supporter of minimum wage would agree the negative consequences are not worth the gains, but we never get to observe that because supporters are in denial about any negative consequences and the majority never lets them get to that point. So Bob magnified them for you.

You are equivocating. The "minimum" in "minimum wage" means it is the lowest wage that may legally be paid. You used the word "minimum" to connote "minimal" or "low, but not too low."

Exactly how low is too low? If you set any minimum wage above the market wage, it's completely arbitrary.

Someone else can invent successively higher:

"living wages"
"dignity wages"
"thriving wages"
"self-actualization wages"

So Bob's tongue-in-cheek suggestion is not beyond the realm of political reality.

All of these higher wages are devoid of any economic meaning. Only the market equilibrium wage has meaning- social welfare is maximized.

"Conflation" means to blend. In logic, it specifically means to blend two unrelated theses. You are confusing "conflation" with "inflation".

Bob's point is to magnify the loss so those of you who support minimum wage can see the loss in social welfare more clearly. He handed you a telescope and you said, "No thanks, there's nothing on that I'd like to watch."

 
At 6/17/2009 4:45 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

It keeps the businesses out of slavedriving and unaware individuals away from slave-driving businesses.

Wage rate does not define slavery. Loss of the right to self determination does. The government is the largest slave driver of all.

 
At 6/17/2009 5:04 PM, Blogger Craig Howard said...

It keeps the businesses out of slavedriving and unaware individuals away from slave-driving businesses.

Wow! Six posts before the economics-deniers came out.

 
At 6/17/2009 9:19 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...

Fine enough, but the idea is that he can only disprove the point by throwing an extremity at it.

The telescope only looks at "far beyond reality", not reality.

 
At 6/17/2009 9:22 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


Wage rate does not define slavery.

It is a signal that such conditions exist at that specific workplace. If we could trust businesses to do the right thing without a wage floor, then it'd be gone. However, they have shown themselves to be untrustworthy when it comes to the law. They evade where possible, and only comply when backed in a corner.

 
At 6/17/2009 9:23 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


Wow! Six posts before the economics-deniers came out.

A bit OT:
Does that make me the economics equivalent of a global warming denier?

 
At 6/18/2009 7:02 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"It keeps the businesses out of slavedriving and unaware individuals away from slave-driving businesses"...

ROFLMAO!

Do employers in your area forcefully make people work for minimum wage?

Do the employers hold a gun to the heads of these so called 'minimum wage slaves'?

Maybe the employers chain these 'minimum wage slaves' to their work areas, right?

"Does that make me the economics equivalent of a global warming denier?"...

Maybe your delusional version of economics works that way...

LOL!

Thanks sethstorm, entertainment like this can't be had in movie theaters at any price...

 
At 6/22/2009 7:09 PM, Anonymous Summer schoole faculty salaries said...

Yeah, the spike in these salaries has really decreased the openings that I had available this year. 15% total, but that's 12 jobs that could have been spread around. Oh well, I hope business picks up.

 

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