Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly

Very recommendable! Minimum wages keep low skilled or inexperienced workers out! The road to hell is paved with good intentions! 

Koalitionskrach um 15 Euro Mindestlohn. Wirklich!

Die Einführung des Mindestlohns in Deutschland in 2015 unter der SED Kanzlerin Merkel war einer der schlimmsten Fehlleistungen der BRD seit 1945. 

Das Fehlen eines Mindestlohns bis 2015 hatte nie wirklich gestört, noch gab es je eine Notwendigkeit dafür! Im Gegenteil, Deutschland hatte hier einen ökonomischen Wettbewerbsvorteil. Eine freie Marktwirtschaft braucht keine vom Staat diktierten Lohn.

Wäre Friedrich Merz nicht ein Merzel würde er die sofortige Abschaffung fordern!

Höhere Gehälter: Koalitionskrach um 15 Euro Mindestlohn "Kaum steht der Koalitionsvertrag, streiten Union und SPD schon darüber, was vereinbart ist. Woher kommt das Ziel von 15 Euro? Was steht im Gesetz? Antworten auf die Schlüsselfragen."

University of California Study shows how to lower divorce rate among poor Americans: Raise the minimum wage

Pseudoscience produced by the University of California and the nonprofit Rand Corp.

Some scientists are no better than charlatans! Or they are political activists!

According to their analysis, if you raise the state minimum wage by two dollars low income individuals would not marry anymore. 😄

"... The UCLA–RAND study shows that when states increased their minimum hourly wage by $1, divorce rates declined by 7% to 15% over the next two years among men and women earning low wages — including but not limited to those earning minimum wage.

The researchers also found that a $1 per hour increase in a state’s minimum wage reduced marriage rates by 3% to 6%. When younger low-wage earners earn more, they often delay marriage, rather than forgo marriage entirely, said co-author Thomas Bradbury, a UCLA psychology professor. ..."

From the abstract:

"... Using the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey, this project applied a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference method to exploit similarities between states that have, and have not, raised their minimum wage. ...

Across data sources, among men and women earning low wages, a one-dollar increase in the state minimum wage predicts a 3%–6% decline in marriage entry and a 7%–15% decline in divorce one and 2 years later. ...

Implications

Government policies that reduce stress on couples and facilitate their access to resources may improve family outcomes"

Study shows how to lower divorce rate among poor Americans: Raise the minimum wage | UCLA

State minimum wage increases delay marriage and reduce divorce among low-wage households (public access)

MIT Study: Higher minimum wages raise voter turnout

This study states the obvious: Populist politicians try to bribe voters to vote for them!

A minimum wage is a perfect tool for politicians to gain favor with some voters!

Like with a magic wand you redistribute income to your favorite voters!

This is another good reason to abolish minimum wage laws altogether!

Government price controls like minimum wage are unconstitutional! The minimum wage is a serious impediment to labor market entry or participation for many who need a job, but cannot easily find one.

Study: Higher minimum wages raise voter turnout | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Low-wage workers, who vote infrequently, gain a participation boost when their salaries increase.

More Money, More Turnout? Minimum Wage Increases and Voting (No public access. This journal does not even provide access to the abstract!)

Robert Reich suggests $24 per hour should be the minimum wage!

When the fools like Robert Reich (elite university professor and labor secretary under President Clinton) go marching in!

Why not $50 an hour minimum wage! So we can all party every day with some of the finest French champagne! Unfortunately, fools like Mr. Reich would have to give up his probably lavish retirement benefits to finance that! Decadence would ruin the economy ... Who cares, definitely not this fool!

Minimum wages are blatantly unconstitutional! These are illegitimate government price controls!

Paul Harvey: "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have." (Source)

Robert Reich on Twitter: "Today seems like a good time to remind you that if wages had kept pace with productivity gains over the last 50 years, the minimum wage would be $24 an hour. $15 is the floor, not the ceiling, of what working people deserve." / Twitter

P.S. I have to sincerely apologize to Louis Armstrong and many spiritual singers that I abused the title of the famous & great song When The Saints Go Marching In!

Here is a screen shot for posterity before this fool regrets he made this public remark and removes it!

Florida voters approved automatic minimum wage increases in 2020 election

From the Wall Street Journal:
"In Florida, 61% of voters approved an initiative that will significantly raise the state’s minimum wage, from $8.56 to $10 an hour next year, before it increases by $1 a year until hitting $15 an hour in 2026. Florida is now the eighth state to adopt that wage floor and the first to do so through a ballot initiative."

This is very regrettable and goes to confirm again the poor economic education of the people! To put it very bluntly, only fools vote or desire minimum wages!

If voters want to help the poor etc. donate money to e.g. organisations that help the poor improve their lives.

The arguments against minimum wage should be well known by many:

1. It is unconstitutional and a violation of individual liberty and property rights
2. These are big government wage and price controls. They represent a severe government intervention into free markets
3. As a minimum, the minimum wage hurts disable people to find dignity in work. With minimum wages they depend on assistance from government or others 
4. It is highly wishful thinking/a fantasy on behalf of citizens that such measures could improve peoples lives
5. The economic damage is far greater than the benefits
6. Shortsighted populism won over reality and common sense
7. By accepting such unconstitutional measures the door is wide open for government or powerful interest groups to seek bigger government

Europäischer Mindestlohn: So will Brüssel die Löhne in Europa anheben

Der Sozialismus schreitet munter weiter voran in der EU! Staatliche Preis- und Lohnkontrollen sind ein sehr schwerwiegender Eingriff in die freie Marktwirtschaft und Privateigentum!

Der Mindestlohn wurde in Deutschland unter der SED Kanzlerin Merkel eingeführt!

Das die USA auch einen nationalen Mindestlohn haben ist extrem bedauerlich! Wurde unter dem Sozialisten President Franklin D Roosevelt eingeführt und leider nie wieder abgeschafft!

So will Brüssel die Löhne in Europa anheben Von der Pflicht zur Einführung gesetzlicher Mindestlöhne ist in der EU-Kommission keine Rede mehr. Mit einheitlichen Kriterien will sie das Lohnniveau aber lenken – auch in Deutschland.

Minimum Wage Cost Me My Job

Very recommendable!

Minimum wage laws are extremely unconstitutional! Simply, these are Big Government dictates! 

Such laws should never have passed the U.S. Congress and signed into law by any U.S. President! The U.S. Supreme Court failed too! Such laws are a gross violation of private property and free market/individual liberty rights!

Mindestlohn für Azubis beschlossen or socialism in Germany

The vicious spiral of government intervention as evidenced in Germany. Germany, since World War II, did not have a government mandated minimum wage until 2015 thanks to socialist Chancellor Merkel. Now, Germany passed a law that would even apply minimum wages to the famous apprentices of the German economy.

Mindestlohn für Azubis beschlossen: Auszubildende sollen künftig im ersten Lehrjahr in Deutschland mindestens 515 Euro im Monat erhalten.

Here is recommendable critique of this socialist nonsense!
AZUBI-MINDESTLOHN: Die neue Irrlehre

Many Economists Are Bankrupt

Posted: 7/4/2018

Introduction

I have previously posted several critical blogs here about economics and several prominent economists here.

Summary

Here is an attempt to summarize:

1. Many are not dispassionate scientists, but active advocates for big government, central planning, and mercantilism. They are the mouthpieces for government programs
2. Rarely do economists criticize government for economic recessions although governments are often heavily responsible for their cause and/or their severity and/or their prolongation
3. Many are socialists in what they do and in what they present in public
4. Humanity does not really benefit from many economists

A Supreme Example

Government mandated minimum wages:

1. How many economists openly protest the introduction of any new minimum wages or any hikes?
2. How many economists have ever advocated to lower minimum wages?
3. Why is it not taught in public (government) schools that minimum wages are a form of government price controls? That it is one of many grave government interventions in economic affairs that severely interfere with the working of free markets and the choices of free individuals

Minimum Wage In Germany

Germans Can Be Fools

Not only has the influence of labor unions on wages in Germany been extremely outsized since 1945.

For several years or so Germany’s government and parliament introduced minimum wages first only for specific professions or industries.

Now, minimum wages of Euro 8.50 are to be introduced nationwide at the same level.

Once this Gini is out of the bottle (in this case minimum wages), it can only get worse from here on!

Expected Consequences

One of the most powerful labor union in Germany, i.e. Verdi, is already announcing they want to raise the current minimum wage as fast as they can to Euro 10.00. See e.g. here.

Previous, Related Blogs

See here.

Minimum Wages Ought To Be Abolished

Prevalence & Justification

As of 2007, 21 of the OECD’s 30 member countries have statutory minimum wages.

There is no convincing justification for government imposed uniform minimum wages. These justifications are widely known and they are mostly sort of pseudo justifications.

Empirical Evidence & Economics

I believe, the score has long been settled. The preponderance of empirical evidence tells us that the disadvantages clearly outweigh the benefits. This is probably one of the few subjects were a majority of economists would agree on.

Minimum wages eliminate or prevent certain jobs; opportunities for unskilled employees are lost and so on.

One easily identifiable winner of minimum wages and in particular of any raise of minimum wages are labor unions as pay scales of their members in some of their contracts are tied to the level of the minimum wage. Thus, if the minimum wage is raised, such members of labor unions will see their pay automatically rise as well across the board.

Fact is there are not many employees who for a considerable period of their lives or for their entire lives depend on earning minimum wages.

Minimum Wages Are Fundamentally Flawed

Minimum wages should be completely rejected, because:

1.       They are a government imposed form of price control

2.       They are an infringement of property rights (e.g. the owner of a business has to pay more than the owner would otherwise voluntary pay)

3.       They are a partial expropriation of business owners

4.       Business owners are singled out to pay for a government redistribution policy

5.       They represent an indirect tax on business owners in the amount of the difference between what the employer was willing to pay and the minimum wage (it does not matter that this amount is not first paid to the treasury)

6.       They are an infringement of the freedom of contract (e.g. they also prevent a willing employee from working for less)

For all these severe and fundamental flaws it is high time to get rid of minimum wages!