Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly, Minimum Jobs



Milton Friedman: "The minimum wage is a law saying that employers must discriminate against workers with low skills."

New John Stossel video on the minimum wage here.

8 Comments:

At 9/01/2009 9:43 AM, Blogger juandos said...

Bruce Bartlett writing in Forbes calls it Mandating Higher Unemployment...

Its also a nice explanation of the Earned Income Tax Credit...

 
At 9/01/2009 10:27 AM, Blogger Ben Eng said...

It might be harder for people to see how minimum wage is a case of 'discrimination' than it is for them to view minimum wage as a 'barrier to entry' for those low skilled workers.

 
At 9/01/2009 1:12 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...

It's not so much that as it has been a bulwark against slave-labor conditions that have existed here in the US.

It's a case where academic willingness exists, but in reality, it is a forced choice by practicality.

It's also a case for why we should act against Third World countries like China, Hong Kong SAR, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, and India as well as regions like Latin America. That is, heavily discourage dealing with those countries until US citizens are not threatened with 'do it or we'll ship your job overseas'.

 
At 9/01/2009 1:37 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"That is, heavily discourage dealing with those countries until US citizens are not threatened with 'do it or we'll ship your job overseas'"...

Gee sethstorm, I'm guessing you wish they hadn't done away with Smoot-Hawley, right?

 
At 9/01/2009 3:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The minimum wage is partly a societal stabilizer to minimize riots etc. Recall that in the 1900 time frame we had home grown anarchists and terrorists. A minimum wage may be viewed as a form of bread and circuses to keep the publicans calm

 
At 9/01/2009 3:45 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"The minimum wage is partly a societal stabilizer to minimize riots etc."...

Are you kidding?

The first federal minimum wage law was foisted off onto citizens by that socialist FDR in 1938...

Were the Watts riots in '65 and '68 over the minimum wage?

Maybe you're right but it doesn't sound right...

 
At 9/01/2009 8:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Consider the alternatives to Roosevelt, Huey Long or Father Conglin who where far left of him. If people get to the point where they feel they have nothing to loose, then they are free to revolt. The goal of the minimum wage is to give everyone some feeling of a stake in the current system. Keeping domestic tranquility is the number 1 job of government, so that leads to a minimum wage as a part of the deal

 
At 9/01/2009 11:05 PM, Blogger Jack Miller said...

Funny! Causing poor teenagers to not work or to work fewer hours is a stabilization program. I submit that the unemployed are more likely to riot.

 

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