tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post8173910992879575632..comments2024-03-06T04:35:38.806-06:00Comments on Disaffected and it Feels So Good: Republican Art Laffer (of the Laffer Curve Fame) Calls for a Return to SlaveryGrung_e_Genehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-57748312830569310372014-01-10T09:07:42.300-06:002014-01-10T09:07:42.300-06:00Badtux the economical astute penguin!
Jerry Critt...Badtux the economical astute penguin!<br /><br />Jerry Critter, Correct as usual<br /><br />Le Knight, yes we can't cut the pay for Wall Street thieves because we might lose the best and brightest, but you can't raise the minimum wage to attract better workers because...<br /><br />yellow fringe, yes Laffer is of that Rove/Cheney Era of career politicians who have never been right about anything but are presumed smart because of white privilege. <br /><br />Kulkuri, succinct and economically stated, I'm going to have to use your comment (with proper annotation of course) in the future. Grung_e_Genehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01894879088472559055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-7433224197756246572014-01-09T08:54:29.058-06:002014-01-09T08:54:29.058-06:00It's funny how they can hold two contradictory...It's funny how they can hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time. Those at the top will work harder if we give them more money while those at the bottom won't want to work if we pay them too much, i.e. raise the minimum wage.Kulkurihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09198195648066700925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-5562429362194940782014-01-09T08:18:53.923-06:002014-01-09T08:18:53.923-06:00Laffer must be white and old, am I right? I think...Laffer must be white and old, am I right? I think the country will have to "die" out of some of these problems. Until that mind-set has assumed room temperature, we will make little progress on solving our woes.the yellow fringehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00003652058436636394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-14431052023381847062014-01-09T07:47:08.328-06:002014-01-09T07:47:08.328-06:00I usually notice the conservative double standard ...I usually notice the conservative double standard in effect. At the top of the income scale, CEOs, athletes, etc. you get what you pay for. More money supposedly equates to better performance, even though it demonstrably does not. Any suggestion of a pay cut for poor performance, or "sharing the wealth" with those below is met with shock and horror. And yet, at the bottom, income can always be squeezed lower without any detriment to behavior. Us domesticated darkies must know our place.Leo Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15537108468817834665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-90106176725025545632014-01-08T22:55:52.169-06:002014-01-08T22:55:52.169-06:00It is time business pays the full cost of labor ra...It is time business pays the full cost of labor rather than having the people, through our taxes, subsidize them.Jerry Critterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01870618647449723147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293433952655399056.post-5502587120224994582014-01-08T17:44:38.014-06:002014-01-08T17:44:38.014-06:00As I point out on my own site, there is no free ma...As I point out <a href="http://snarkypenguin.wordpress.com/2013/12/14/the-conservative-economists-alternative-to-a-minimum-wage/" rel="nofollow">on my own site</a>, there is no free market when there are 150 million sellers and only a few hundred thousand buyers, there is an oligopsony where the buyers can drive down the price to basically $0.01/hour. When the price happens to be wages, you then run into the Iron Law of wages: People will not work for wages that are insufficient to sustain life. Either because they are dead, or because they are looking for something else that *will* sustain life, such as, say, selling crack on the streets or smashing in store windows to steal food. <br /><br />One thing I will point out is that <i>the current minimum wage is ALREADY below the Iron Law minimum</i>. Things like food stamps and housing subsidies allow employers to pay below what they'd otherwise have to pay if there were in fact a free market by keeping people alive on wages that are insufficient to sustain life. And Laffer's suggestions are for even more blatant subsidies for employers, ignoring the fact that employers are not social welfare agencies <i>and will not hire a single extra person at lower wages</i> -- none, nada, zero. Because if they <i>needed</i> that extra person to meet demand for their product, they would have already hired him. And if they <i>don't</i> need that extra person, they'll <i>never</i> hire him, because that would hurt their profits.<br /><br />In other words Laffer is a dishonest asshole looking for corporate welfare for his clients (Big Business). But we already knew that, didn't we?<br /><br />- Badtux the Economics PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.com