http://news.yahoo.com/22-minimum-wage-could-pass-congress-145204898.html
Could you imagine the ramifications if this dolt ever got her wishes?
Could you imagine the ramifications if this dolt ever got her wishes?
Is Sen. Warren really this stupid?
- Thread starter Clubber Lang
- Start date
She is just making a point of how bad the average working person has been screwed over the past several decades. A point to which I agree, and cannot be disputed with any degree of intellectual honesty.
Hold on a second there, economic conservatives: Neither Warren nor Dube was actually suggesting raising the minimum wage that high as a matter of public policy. Doing so in one go would crash companies and destroy jobs.
âRather, the exercise demonstrates how different the growth rates have been for incomes going to those at the bottom of the labor market as compared to the economy as a whole and to those at the top end of the distribution,â Dube said.
Hold on a second there, economic conservatives: Neither Warren nor Dube was actually suggesting raising the minimum wage that high as a matter of public policy. Doing so in one go would crash companies and destroy jobs.
âRather, the exercise demonstrates how different the growth rates have been for incomes going to those at the bottom of the labor market as compared to the economy as a whole and to those at the top end of the distribution,â Dube said.
From another, more realistic, point of view:
raising the minimum wage to some arbitrarily-determined level of ostensible just deserts is just another way of throwing market signals under the bus in exchange for more top-down control, which might benefit a few in the short run, but bogs down the entire economy in the long run. As Christina Romer, former head of President Obamaâs Council of Economic Advisers, put it:
Raising the minimum wage, as President Obama proposed in his State of the Union address, tends to be more popular with the general public than with economists. â¦
First, whatâs the argument for having a minimum wage at all? Many of my students assume that government protection is the only thing ensuring decent wages for most American workers. But basic economics shows that competition between employers for workers can be very effective at preventing businesses from misbehaving. If every other store in town is paying workers $9 an hour, one offering $8 will find it hard to hire anyone â perhaps not when unemployment is high, but certainly in normal times. Robust competition is a powerful force helping to ensure that workers are paid what they contribute to their employersâ bottom lines.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/18/elizabeth-warren-hey-why-isnt-the-minimum-wage-22hour/
raising the minimum wage to some arbitrarily-determined level of ostensible just deserts is just another way of throwing market signals under the bus in exchange for more top-down control, which might benefit a few in the short run, but bogs down the entire economy in the long run. As Christina Romer, former head of President Obamaâs Council of Economic Advisers, put it:
Raising the minimum wage, as President Obama proposed in his State of the Union address, tends to be more popular with the general public than with economists. â¦
First, whatâs the argument for having a minimum wage at all? Many of my students assume that government protection is the only thing ensuring decent wages for most American workers. But basic economics shows that competition between employers for workers can be very effective at preventing businesses from misbehaving. If every other store in town is paying workers $9 an hour, one offering $8 will find it hard to hire anyone â perhaps not when unemployment is high, but certainly in normal times. Robust competition is a powerful force helping to ensure that workers are paid what they contribute to their employersâ bottom lines.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/18/elizabeth-warren-hey-why-isnt-the-minimum-wage-22hour/
Warren abd Dube apparently are claiming that the $22 an hour minimum wage is calculated by taking into account increased productivity. But workers had nothing to do with that increase, for the most part. It is a result of either investments in plant and equipment, or more likely, offshoring. It is unclear why workers are entitled to any of that increase in producitivity.
Dube also said that the increases went to executives rather than workers. On the one hand, that is what is upposed to happen when management increases profitablility. Of course, he is right that the share taken down by top managemetn has grown obscenely and unjustifiably over the past few decades. Obama has proposed absolutely nothing to couteract that however and isn't likely to, given his suppport from rich silicon valley execs.
In sum, minimum wage laws substitute political decisions for economic ones and are thus inherently inefficient and unfair. If it was such a great idea, why stop at $22/hr? Why not make it $50/hr or more? Supporters will scoff and say, well, that's unrealistic, but what gives them the ability to judge if $9 or 10 or 22 is realistic? The same amazing planning ability that communists had in the Soviet Union?
At the end of the day, people who think minimum wage laws are a good idea are the same people who think rent control is a good way to address a shortage of rental housing. Or that massive bailouts of failed companies are a smart plan.
Dube also said that the increases went to executives rather than workers. On the one hand, that is what is upposed to happen when management increases profitablility. Of course, he is right that the share taken down by top managemetn has grown obscenely and unjustifiably over the past few decades. Obama has proposed absolutely nothing to couteract that however and isn't likely to, given his suppport from rich silicon valley execs.
In sum, minimum wage laws substitute political decisions for economic ones and are thus inherently inefficient and unfair. If it was such a great idea, why stop at $22/hr? Why not make it $50/hr or more? Supporters will scoff and say, well, that's unrealistic, but what gives them the ability to judge if $9 or 10 or 22 is realistic? The same amazing planning ability that communists had in the Soviet Union?
At the end of the day, people who think minimum wage laws are a good idea are the same people who think rent control is a good way to address a shortage of rental housing. Or that massive bailouts of failed companies are a smart plan.
Flat to depressed wages while the boardroom boyz have seen huge increases in pay. Benefit reduction across the board costing employees more for less, while the boardroom boyz have seen huge increases in pay and benefits. Company funded pension plans replaced by 401K's, which BTW were never intended to replace those plans, and cost the company far less and costs employees far more. More money for the boardroom boyz. Outsourcing of jobs to overseas markets by the millions. Illlegal immigrants depressing wages through slave labor wages, especially in small to medium manufacturing and industrial service shops.
That was an option until the 80's. Now there's nowhere to go for most people, even those who have furthered their education and skill sets don't have much to choose from. Of course there are exceptions, but few in number. BTW, I'm not arguing for a higher minimum wage. I'm arguing for a much higher skilled wage among those who still happen to have a skilled job.