There’s been consternation recently that the Congress isn’t passing enough laws. If you love liberty this is great news. When did quantity become more important that quality? This is the same Congress that says you have to pass bills to find out what’s in the bills. President Coolidge once said, “It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.” Sadly very few people share this sentiment today.
Over the past year there has been a lot of press about “planned strikes” at Walmart and fast food restaurants. There’s nothing grassroots about these strikes. These faux strikes being pushed by unions and the “strikers” are probably paid. It’s not even worth paying attention to, but The New York Times thinks planned faux strikes paid for by unions are newsworthy. Unions have a financial incentive by advocating for a higher minimum wage.
The minimum wage doesn’t work. There’s nothing controversial about that claim. Most economists agree that that the minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. I have covered this topic extensively, but I want to concentrate on the consequences of bad policy.
Many of the minimum wage proponents who aren’t tied to unions have Capitalismtphobia. They don’t like corporations (unless they’re Apple, Target, or IKEA). They basically believe that the workers at Walmart or McDonald’s are being exploited. No one is making these people work at these companies, but that’s beside the point. Something has to be done! So let’s draft government legislation to artificially raise wages. What could go wrong?
Laws that raise wages have a detrimental effect on young and unskilled workers. That’s already established, but higher wages are unlikely to hurt McDonald’s or Walmart. Those companies can absorb the costs by hiring fewer people. They can replace employees by investing in self checkout equipment. These are things that minimum wage proponents never think about. Also, what about small companies that can’t afford to raise wages? Ever hear people bitch about how the big box stores chase mom and pop out of business? Well, what the frack do you think artificially raising wages does, ya ninnies?
Bad laws hurt small companies. Need more proof? Walmart supports the minimum wage.
In 2006, Walmart’s then-CEO Lee Scott said: “There are a number of proposals before Congress. Though we do not intend to take a position on any single piece of legislation, we believe Congress should increase the minimum wage.”
In the case of the D.C. bill, Walmart often already does pay a $10 or $11.50 wage. According to Payscale.com, Walmart’s cashiers on average make between $7.50 and $10.77 and sales associates make between $7.63 and $11.83. Overall, its wages are just five percent below the retail industry average.
It is a different story for D.C.’s small neighborhood stores — which already face the daunting prospect of competing with Walmart. “Small businesses are the least able to absorb … a dramatic increase in their labor costs,” notes the National Federation of Independent Business.
This is just another classic example of how crony capitalism protects the interests of Walmart while it squashes the little guy. Isn’t this exactly what these liberals are trying to prevent? Walmart is big enough to take care of itself. Does it really need the help of the federal government to eliminate its competition?
It’s really an amazing system. Super-rich stakeholders in companies like Walmart convince poor people who are ignorant about economics that they’re being exploited by Walmart. Also, these super-rich people have also pulled the wool over the eyes of the so-called “educated” class, now properly known as the mis-educated class (or useful idiots). This crony capitalism system is a real threat to our economic freedom. Will liberals ever see they’re being used?
