Boss
Take a Memo:
Most liberals don't understand this because they don't really grasp the principles of free market capitalism. They react emotively and without thinking about consequences of what their emotions drive them to do. And when you're dealing with free market capitalism, this can be very costly because you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Such is the case with our beloved minimum wage.
Oh sure, it has been considered a wonderful idea through all the years... helped the poor exploited worker be treated at least half-way decently... but it has also produced a society full of idiots who don't comprehend how it has damaged the individual's ability to prosper. It's a big giant ball and chain on our ability to negotiate. In order to understand this, you must understand how the principles of free market capitalism (supply and demand) operate.
As I said, the toothpaste is out already, can't put it back now... So I am not suggesting we should get rid of the minimum wage at this time. Various reasons for that but it all goes back to the toothpaste already being out of the tube... we've already established a free market system around this baseline labor cost, any change now would be somewhat detrimental to a lot of people. The better idea at this point is to leave it alone and focus on making it irrelevant. Raising it is stupid and pointless because all you're ultimately doing is decreasing the value of a dollar.
But now... Let's go back to 1912, when this issue was first being debated. The First Progressive Movement was hell bent on establishing a minimum wage, at that time, for women and children. They tried numerous times to do this and kept running into failure because the Supreme Court continued to rule the minimum wage unconstitutional. This went on for over 20 years in the first part of the 20th century. So when we get to the Great Depression, FDR takes this opportunity to implement a national minimum wage. He says, and I quote:
"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country."
Now...... THAT sounds very familiar, doesn't it? ....Where have I heard THAT recently? Can it not be clearer that this abysmal liberal policy has FAILED? Here we are, 82 years later and the same Progressives are screaming the same thing! The dollar amount is all that is different.
Same argument, same idea, same solution that hasn't worked in 82 years. But it's all about emotion, you see?
Okay, follow me here... think about, what if.... What IF we had not adopted a MW and instead, we promoted individual and collective bargaining? We could have established anti-trust laws where employers had to 'reasonably negotiate' with prospective employees on the specific job available. Of course, we have to understand there were "corporatists" back then who didn't want that to happen. They went along with this "minimum wage" idea because it effectively base-lined labor costs. Think about it for a hot second...
Every wage in America, whether you belong to a union or not, is pretty much determined in relation to the current minimum wage. If that goes up, so do all the wages up the ladder because that is their base line. As long as the minimum wage remains where it is, the motivation for the capitalist is to keep wages the same. so we've stagnated wealth acquisition by base-lining labor cost. You can't negotiate a higher wage because the wage is set according to the minimum you've set. Raising the minimum doesn't help you negotiate, it eliminates the job you're negotiating for. If there were no such thing as a minimum wage, you could negotiate based on market value of labor.
We don't know how free market forces would have worked the past 82 years... Sure, children and women were exploited back in 1912... Sure, people were struggling in 1933... but had we taken a different road, one that encouraged free market capitalism instead of trying to regulate it... we may have experienced a different result. It might be that today, an average worker negotiates $15 hr. for a burger flipper job because no one else wants to flip burgers? It might mean the value of the dollar never declined and $5 hr. buys as much as $15 today? We just don't know because we didn't take that road.
Oh sure, it has been considered a wonderful idea through all the years... helped the poor exploited worker be treated at least half-way decently... but it has also produced a society full of idiots who don't comprehend how it has damaged the individual's ability to prosper. It's a big giant ball and chain on our ability to negotiate. In order to understand this, you must understand how the principles of free market capitalism (supply and demand) operate.
As I said, the toothpaste is out already, can't put it back now... So I am not suggesting we should get rid of the minimum wage at this time. Various reasons for that but it all goes back to the toothpaste already being out of the tube... we've already established a free market system around this baseline labor cost, any change now would be somewhat detrimental to a lot of people. The better idea at this point is to leave it alone and focus on making it irrelevant. Raising it is stupid and pointless because all you're ultimately doing is decreasing the value of a dollar.
But now... Let's go back to 1912, when this issue was first being debated. The First Progressive Movement was hell bent on establishing a minimum wage, at that time, for women and children. They tried numerous times to do this and kept running into failure because the Supreme Court continued to rule the minimum wage unconstitutional. This went on for over 20 years in the first part of the 20th century. So when we get to the Great Depression, FDR takes this opportunity to implement a national minimum wage. He says, and I quote:
"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country."
Now...... THAT sounds very familiar, doesn't it? ....Where have I heard THAT recently? Can it not be clearer that this abysmal liberal policy has FAILED? Here we are, 82 years later and the same Progressives are screaming the same thing! The dollar amount is all that is different.
Same argument, same idea, same solution that hasn't worked in 82 years. But it's all about emotion, you see?
Okay, follow me here... think about, what if.... What IF we had not adopted a MW and instead, we promoted individual and collective bargaining? We could have established anti-trust laws where employers had to 'reasonably negotiate' with prospective employees on the specific job available. Of course, we have to understand there were "corporatists" back then who didn't want that to happen. They went along with this "minimum wage" idea because it effectively base-lined labor costs. Think about it for a hot second...
Every wage in America, whether you belong to a union or not, is pretty much determined in relation to the current minimum wage. If that goes up, so do all the wages up the ladder because that is their base line. As long as the minimum wage remains where it is, the motivation for the capitalist is to keep wages the same. so we've stagnated wealth acquisition by base-lining labor cost. You can't negotiate a higher wage because the wage is set according to the minimum you've set. Raising the minimum doesn't help you negotiate, it eliminates the job you're negotiating for. If there were no such thing as a minimum wage, you could negotiate based on market value of labor.
We don't know how free market forces would have worked the past 82 years... Sure, children and women were exploited back in 1912... Sure, people were struggling in 1933... but had we taken a different road, one that encouraged free market capitalism instead of trying to regulate it... we may have experienced a different result. It might be that today, an average worker negotiates $15 hr. for a burger flipper job because no one else wants to flip burgers? It might mean the value of the dollar never declined and $5 hr. buys as much as $15 today? We just don't know because we didn't take that road.
