Reflections From a Murky Pond

I’ve said before that raising the minimum wage in order to provide the “poor” with the material standard of living they feel entitled to is a plan that will backfire, causing incalculable financial harm to the very people it’s meant to provide for.

As I write this article, the minimum wage has risen or will rise this week in 20 states, the most widespread non-federally mandated raise in the minimum wage in US history.

This is the result of a national “movement” of low-wage workers, their advocates, labor unions, and Left-wing politicians fomenting anger, discord, and hysteria about the supposedly widening gap between the rich and the “poor” in the United States.

Raising The Lowest Rung

Of course, the presumably unintended consequences of raising the minimum wage is that teens just entering the workforce, especially Black teens, will find it more difficult to get a job. Simply put, raising the lowest rung puts it out of reach of the less able.

So what will happen is that more youths will find it harder to break into the employment market and that this barrier will “disproportionately impact” Black youths, thereby helping to perpetuate and exacerbate the syndrome of Black unemployment, poverty, criminality, and dependence upon- and cognitive servitude to government largess.

Not so oddly, I predicted this a year and two days ago. Also not so oddly, I’m less than perfectly pleased by being right.

Tags: America | Blacks | Economics | Employment | Jobs | Law | Minimum Wage | Politics | Racial Politics | Small Business | Teens | Unemployment | Wages

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2015 at 8:04 am and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

In the Civilized World, especially Britain and America, the “poor,” most especially the “working poor” misthink a lot. They truly mistake their place in the scheme of society and economics and, because of this, have replaced pride with hubris.

I wonder about people who think that those who are poor shouldn’t demand reciprocity from their employers. We should devote ourselves to something that doesn’t benefit us more than it absolutely has to? We’re meant to care about their best interests, but they don’t have to care about ours? If you’re going to put as little as possible into my training and wages, if you’re going to make sure that I can’t get enough hours to survive in order to avoid giving me healthcare, and generally make sure that I’m as uncomfortable as possible at any given time just to make sure I know my place, then how can you expect me to care about your profit margin?

— Linda Tirado
Hand to Mouth

This is an all too common failing though more detrimental to both individuals and nations when coming from the “poor.” They conflate their worth as people with their worth to their employer and almost always over-inflate and overstate that importance.

Hubris Is A Self-Punishing Sin

What these people fail to realize or, at least, fail to accept and internalize is that the only reason that they have one or more jobs is that, at the current time, it’s more feasible and/or cost effective for employers to employ them than it is to either outsource the work or replace the bulk of the labor process with automation. They can’t or won’t grasp the simple concept that they’re by and large disposable and interchangeable parts insofar as the context of their work is concerned and that this is the basic, incontrovertible nature of very low-level, largely unskilled labor.

Tags: Automation | Economics | Economy | Employment | Linda Tirado | Poverty | Society | Stupidity | Wages | War on Poverty | Wealth

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2014 at 5:53 am and is filed under Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

While Obama’s legacy will be both limited and unflattering, the boy has been significant in some ways. Obama’s installation as POTUS in 2008 ushered in a new, modern school of economics…

Modern School of Economics

Apparently, in a total departure from all previous Western schools of economic though, this modern, Obama-inspired set of economic theories is predicated upon completely separating remunerations from labor effort or worth. This is a new and significant economic idea and one that Obama and the Congressional Democrats should be given full credit- and remembered for.

Tags: 2008 Elections | America | Economics | Employment | Humor | Labor | Obama | Politics | Unemployment | Wages

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2014 at 6:59 am and is filed under Humor, Politics, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.