September 6, 2017

The maximum price of the minimum wage

from The Washington Times:  When the bill for feel-good economics comes due, only the ignorant scream.
Regulation Nation

When cowards give in to looters, the American people are the losers

from The American Spectator:  Republicans wave the white flag on Obamacare as RINO senators and governors move toward a blueprint for surrender. When they ran for election, the GOP put on their masks. When they failed to act, they took them off.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Wisconsin moves to be first state ever to nullify federal cannabis prohibition through legislation

from The Free Thought Project:  State nullification of federal marijuana prohibition is completely constitutional, with the feds having little, if any, recourse to stop the process. Until now, cannabis has been legalized ONLY through direct initiative of the people, not by our so-called representatives.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Internet censorship bill would spell disaster for speech and innovation

from Electronic Frontier Foundation:  The bill, named the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, would not stop sex traffickers (its stated pretense), but it would chill free expression.
Indoctrination and Censorship

A 2020 Democratic agenda is emerging

from The Washington Post:  Intolerant and unrealistic, the party ditches pretended moderation and will openly fight for their left-wing agenda.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Licensing Laws Shut Young People Out Of The Job Market

by Ben Casselman.  Young people entering the job market have always faced challenges: a lack of skills and experience, limited professional networks, unfamiliarity with workplace culture and expectations. But increasingly, they are also facing another obstacle: legal requirements that can shut off avenues to jobs before they even get the chance  ... MORE

The Cruelty Of The $15 Minimum Wage

by Nick Gillespie & Jim Epstein.   The $15 minimum wage just went from "laughable" to "viable"—as a New York Times headline put it—to the law of the land for millions of New York and California residents. In April 2016, the Empire and Golden states almost simultaneously passed laws that will boost the state-mandated wage floor to $15 over the     ... MORE

Hyprocrisy On Steroids: California Labor Union That Fought To Impose $15 Minimum Wage Now Wants An Exemption

The point is to drive up the costs of their competition.  The labor union that led the charge for a $15 minimum wage hike in cities across California is now moving to secure an exemption for employers under union contracts. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor buried the exemption on the eighth page of its 12-page proposal for the  ... MORE

VIDEO: Richard Epstein - Toward Fixing America's Economy

Bob Russell: Free Market Should Determine Wages

Give low-skill workers a chance.     I think the Minimum Wage Law is one of the worst things that government has ever done. It’s often said that people can’t live on $7.25 per hour as a reason for increasing the minimum wage. Of course, we all wish that everyone could make more, but it is not up to us or even the government to say what people  ... MORE

VIDEO: What's The Right Minimum Wage?

VIDEO: Is Raising Minimum Wage A Bad Idea?

Victor Davis Hansen: The Medicine Has Stopped Working

In search of fixes for a fossilized economy.     The U.S. economy grew at an anemic rate of less than 1 percent in the last quarter of 2015. While the unemployment rate has dipped below 5 percent, the all-important labor force participation rate is at a historic low of just 62.7 percent. More than 90 million able-bodied adults are either not   ... MORE

VIDEO: Edgar The Exploiter

VIDEO: John Stossel - Protected Out Of Work

Throwing Billions Down A Dark Tunnel For Bullet Train

Political nitwittery thrives in California.    For years, critics of the California high-speed rail project – from government oversight agencies to transportation and engineering experts to think tanks to local grass-roots organizations to these Opinion pages – have faulted the California High-Speed Rail Authority for its overly optimistic and ever-changing  ... MORE

VIDEO: Self-Ownership And The Right To Say No

Craig Dunkley: 25 Ways To Be A Real Man

Modern men have lost sight of what's real.     In its Men's Style section, The New York Times recently published a somewhat ridiculous, liberalism-infused article entitled "27 Ways to Be a Modern Man."  While a few of the 27 ways made some sense, many of them were so soft-handed and weak that one wonders if the article was meant as a joke.    ... MORE

Jack Curtis: The Government Vs. Uber

Bad economics is often good politics.       Capitalist cronies in government, old-model cab companies, and their unions have been attacking Uber, Lyft, and their ‘ride sharing’ business model since the Internet gave them birth, in hopes of squelching the new competition. It’s a lot easier when government heads off your new, high-tech    ... MORE

More Unemployment Ahead As Minimum-Wage Offensive Will Likely Speed Arrival Of Robot-Powered Restaurants

by Lydia DePillis.   Crowded. That’s how Ed Rensi remembers what life was like working at McDonald’s in 1966. There were about double the number of people working in the store — 70 or 80, as opposed to the 30 or 40 there today — because preparing the food just took a lot more doing. “When I first started at McDonald’s making 85 cents an  ... MORE

Record 93,770,000 Americans Not In Labor Force

by Caroline May.   The number of people not in the labor force reached another record high in July, according to new jobs data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS reports that 93,770,000 people (16 and older) were neither employed last month nor had made specific efforts to find work in the prior four weeks. The number of people    ... MORE

How The Federal Government Betrayed Millennials

by Veronique deRugy.   Candidates running for president should take the following warning seriously: Years of bad government policies catering to interest groups have created a generation of young people facing tremendous challenges in the labor market and little chance to experience the good old American dream. We can hope that someone       ... MORE

Why Should Government Demand Wage Rates Rather Than Let Individuals Be Free To Pursue Their Own Interests?

by Chuck Barnard.  We should all be free to work for a business based on our personal criteria, including the wage they pay. What right do any of these progressives have to tell someone who would agree to work for another individual for a mutually agreed-upon wage that they can’t? How do they have the right to say to someone they must work for a  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - First Jobs Regulated Away