Last month I posted about the minimum wage and it’s impact on teens. Back then, I commented on how a post by Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem pushed me to finish my data analysis.
The results were drastic. And now, I wanna show the same analysis but for black teens in America.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Employment, Minimum Wage, Unemployment
There is an old story about Milton Friedman.
It goes roughly like this:
Milton Friedman was being escorted past a large construction project by a government finance minister. Friedman observed that all the workers were using shovels and he asked the finance minister why there were no bulldozers or excavators. The minister said “Because, Mr. Friedman, our goal is JOBS.” to which Friedman responded, “If your goal is jobs, give them spoons.”
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Leftist, Milton Friedman, Stimulus, Unemployment
Earlier I mentioned that I found it funny that somehow having the government take money from some people and give it to other people is seen as a good thing.
Step away for a second about where the money comes from, from whom it comes and other such details, I am interested in the science that states, in essence,
“Money in the hands of someone unemployed is spent better than that same money in the hands of someone NOT unemployed.”
Can you answer that question?
In this morning’s News and Observer, Opinion writer Alexandra Forter Sirota from the N.C. Budget & Tax Center had this to say:
Late last week the U.S. Senate failed to move a bill that would extend essential fiscal relief to states, as well as fund temporary unemployment insurance provisions passed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
As a result, the Employment Security Commission estimates that 20,000 North Carolinians will lose unemployment benefits that they would spend quickly and close to home, boosting the local economy and helping local businesses avoid layoffs.
In addition, North Carolina won’t receive more than $340 million in federal assistance, forcing even deeper spending cuts than we’ve already endured in the face of an unprecedented drop in revenues brought on by the recession.
Basically what she’s saying is that it’s good economic policy to continue to remove money from the hands of people with jobs and continue to shovel into the hands of people who’ve been out of work for more than 99 weeks. Now, I’m not saying that these aren’t good folks. That they don’t deserve the money or wouldn’t appreciate the help. All I’m saying is that Ms. Forter Sirota thinks it continues to make sense to shift money from “A” to “B”.
Further, she mentions in the 3rd paragraph, that she feels it’s wise to continue to tax people in States other than North Carolina to help the state of North Carolina pay our bills. I, for one, resent having my tax money sent to California for them to continue to spend foolishly. I imagine that somewhere, someone feels the same about their money and our State.
If we don’t have the money, then we need to cut our spending.
Period.
When, Ms. Forter Sirota, will enough spending be enough for you?
For years I’ve argued that the minimum wage was a wrong minded philosophy. 
This has gone back for at least 14-20 years. For much of that time, my arguments were more along the line of “There are many people in this world how aren’t WORTH the minimum wage.” Parallel to that argument, I would challenge people I knew who supported the idea with finding 10 jobs [I lived in Seattle at the time] that actually DIDN’T pay the minimum wage.
The point is; I’ve long opposed the idea that businesses should have t pay people more than they’re worth.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Employment, Minimum Wage, Unemployment
If it were up to me, I fire every union teacher in my schools. And hire back the good ones on the condition that they consider themselves “management”.
Posted in Economics, Education, Politics: National, States Behaving Badly
Tagged Abuse of Power, California, Conservative, Democrat, Liberal, Politics, Republican, Unemployment, Unions
It’s a pretty familiar refrain “Everything is made in China, that’s why it’s so cheap!”
This is usually followed up with the typical “slave labor” and “sweat shop” and other oft trotted out horror stories.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Liberty, Politics: International, Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina
Tagged Abuse of Power, China, Conservative, Employment, Left, Leftist, Liberal, Minimum Wage, Politics, Unemployment, Unions
I call bullshit. Clear case of marginal value.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National, Politics: North Carolina, Uncategorized
Tagged Charity, Recession, Unemployment