Commentary
Ontario Premier Doug Ford excites liberals and socialists by raising the minimum wage. And giving up advocating for unpopular ideas is exciting for conservatives, as they think they will stop being treated as social reapers. So, economically, pointing out that this move is garbage may rather ruin the mood.
Listen to the Prime Minister’s greasy rationale: “I’ve always said a worker It’s worth having more money in their pockets as they have won it. They worked hard and spent a lot of time. What the government can do is ensure that we make their lives more affordable. None of them are true. Many minimum wage earners are part-time, and because it’s important, it’s not even a little for long hours.
As is often the case, I remember one of Henry Hazlitt’s most quotable lines. “A mere recital of government economic policy around the world is calculated to make serious students of economics throw their hands in despair.” And as he continued in 1946, it doesn’t get better. It was. ?? Ford isn’t even trying.
If so, he will understand that if you raise the price of something, people will buy it less. Whether it’s online music, roof tiles, or unskilled labor, the more expensive it is, the more people will try to find an alternative. Like the fast food restaurant’s auto-order screen, oh, I don’t know. The minimum wage hurt the people they try to help.
In addition, as PJ Ouroke wrote 30 years ago, “With the wildest hippies The toughest members of the Politburo shared the same fantasy: something other than what people give for it might somehow be worth it. So it’s not true that workers were paid less than they “earned” until the government came and gave them it. Some employers may have a matching stone and purse heart. But those who are desperate for talented and hard-working workers bid for the good, and the bad mean that the business collapses.
The market is not perfect. But if you think the government is, I can’t help you. To everyone else, the fact that the labor of some people is not as valuable as we or they want, pretends it is and tries to force others to do the same. It cannot be fixed by. It can be better by increasing their opportunities. However, this phrase does not primarily mean government training. That means removing obstacles that completely prevent people from finding a job, such as artificially high minimum wages. As a result, they cannot improve their skills and get promoted, promoted, or better jobs.
It is also not true that “workers” have more money in their folk “pockets”. As Hazlitt also famously said, “The art of economics is not just about immediate effects, but about the longer effects of all actions and policies. It is not just one group, but It’s about tracking the results of that policy for all groups. “
So if you want to get everything that is factual, detail-oriented, and uninteresting, Ben Eisen and Miragros Palacios at Fraser Institute I wrote last month: “One of the most common arguments in favor of raising the minimum wage is that doing so helps reduce poverty.” But “potentially negative impact on employment levels.” They say that “ignore” (the big “if” in parentheses) works only “when the minimum wage workers are concentrated in low-income households.”
They are not. Instead, 8.8% of all Canadian workers seem to earn the minimum wage, but only 7.7% of that 8.8% live in the following households: Statistics Canada Low Income Cutoff line.
Why? “Most minimum wage workers are not the main earners of their households,” so Eisen and Palacios found in their study. So get rid of Hanky. “Only 2.2 percent of minimum wage workers are single parents with children under the age of 18.” Instead, “53 percent … are between the ages of 15 and 24.”
These jobs are not careers. They are a stepping stone to a career, or extra family money. And Ford just made it harder for them to ride. Those who are already doing well sacrifice those who are left behind, as this does not benefit anyone other than organized labor, here real scrooge, greedily tampering with the labor market. Can be better.
If Ford thinks that regulated fiat money can make everyone’s income, he’s even bigger than I thought above. If he’s just pretending to buy a vote, the union boss won’t support him again next time, so do the same.
Hmm.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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John Robson is a documentary filmmaker, National Post columnist, Dorchester Review contributor editor, and Executive Director of Climate Discussion Nexus. His latest documentary is “Environment: True Story”.
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