Neoclassical Silliness on the Minimum Wage Again

Chuck is the latest proponent of neoclassical nonsense to grace our blog:

How much worse off would people in those countries be if their children couldn’t work? You can’t apply U.S. ideals to countries that aren’t as far along the economic life cycle as the U.S.

His first paragraph attempts to justify the total failure of the lack of minimum wage laws in the 3rd World to deal with the problems of unemployment or poor pay. He deals with this by not answering the question. Meanwhile, Cuba has a minimum wage law and has full employment. In the US, there are indeed states in the US South that have no minimum wage laws. I’m not sure what the means in terms of what employers can do, but those states have the worst pay and working conditions in the US. In fact, you will see an excellent correlation in the US and around the world: Everywhere there is no minimum wage law, you have terrible pay and working conditions, and in many places, you also have mass unemployment. The working man is getting fucked. Countries that have minimum wage laws, on average, tend to have better treatment of workers and better pay. Lack of minimum wage laws is bad for workers! Once again, we see the enemies of the workers, the neoclassicals, claiming that they are out to help their worker buddies. It’s a lie. Why would our enemies want to help us? The neoclassicals are the agents of Capital and the rich. They want to get rid of minimum wage laws because that’s good for capitalists. It’s good for capitalists and bad for workers. Workers in the developed world won’t work at a shit job that doesn’t even pay enough to survive. Indeed, the minimum wage itself is barely even enough to survive on. Some say it’s low that you can’t survive on it. I’m not sure if that’s true, but if you can barely survive on a minimum wage, how could you survive on a sub-minimum wage? Thomas Sowell, a Black neoclassical economist, says that we should get rid of minimum wage laws so ghetto Blacks could have jobs. But the jobs did not leave the ghettos because of minimum wage laws! They left because the ghetto Blacks destroyed the neighborhood, mostly through crime, and all of the businesses fled. There are jobs in those areas, but many young Blacks do not want to work for them. They barely want to work for minimum wage. They consider that chump change. They make a Hell of a lot more money selling dope, which is why they do it.

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7 thoughts on “Neoclassical Silliness on the Minimum Wage Again”

  1. I travel in NAM circles, and to be honest with you, the vast majority of black drug dealers really dont make that much money. If they did why would they live in ghettoes? The black stereotpye of them showing off more money than they have is true. They just blow their cash on weed, liquor, nice clothes, and rims. Ive had many black cellmates in jail who sold dope, and they didnt even have enough money to buy basic hygiene items, let alone snacks off the commisary order sheet. They do it because they cant/wont make money any other way, trust me.

    1. Yeah, like these guys are gonna work flipping burgers for $4/hour. LOL!
      I know a lot of these idiots too. They in general refuse to work for $8/hour. They consider that to be chump change. After a while, they will go take an $8/hour job somewhere until they get fired. LOL. The very idea that the clowns that I knew would go flip burgers for $4/hour is comical.

  2. Thomas Sowell, a Black neoclassical economist, says that we should get rid of minimum wage laws so ghetto Blacks could have jobs. But the jobs did not leave the ghettos because of minimum wage laws! They left because the ghetto Blacks destroyed the neighborhood, mostly through crime, and all of the businesses fled.

    Black business just decided to magically flee black neighborhoods? This is nonsense. Blacks destroyed their neighborhoods because minimum wage laws priced low-skilled workers out of the market causing many black men to turn to criminal enterprises. Sowell has added much to the commentary on this topic by pointing out that black people were just as employed as whites before minimum wage laws were enacted.
    When black men lost jobs the black community went to hell in a hand-basket.

    Once again, we see the enemies of the workers, the neoclassicals, claiming that they are out to help their worker buddies.

    This is standard marxian slave-master dialectic. Its not a zero-sum game. Investment and capital create jobs that proles otherwise wouldn’t have. And you paint a false premise when you say that neoclassicals and libertarians are out to help their worker buddies. The beauty of capitalism is that capitalists can look out for their best interests, and their best interests also increase the standard of living of laborers who are also looking out for their best interests.

    Meanwhile, Cuba has a minimum wage law and has full employment.

    Then why do so many risk their lives defecting to this country rather than the reverse? Why are Cubans the most conservative Hispanic cohort? Further, why did so many defecting Soviets turn out to be die hard capitalists i.e. Ayn Rand and the Hungarian born Michael Polanyi?
    Furthermore, Cuba may have very low unemployment but their average income hovers around $4000. Centralized policies that ensure jobs for those marginal workers hurts the rest of the economy by bringing down productivity, output, and income. Their economy is based on make-work policies. Literally, Cubans digging holes and filling them back in just for the sake of employment. But what does such employment contribute to the economy? Nada.
    You may call me a libertarian and a neoclassical, but I should also qualify that I’m anti-corporatist. I don’t believe that everything a corporation does upholds libertarian free-market ideals. Usually such corporate behavior involves a little help from government friends which is in itself socialism.

    1. How come they don’t risk their lives to go to any of the capitalist paradises of Latin America? If there were 90 miles of ocean between the US and Mexico, I think you would see a lot of Mexicans on rafts too. Those idiots can all leave, they just need to wait in line for 6 months, and they’re too stupid to do that. They can all drown at sea for all I care. In fact, I hope they do. Less rightwingers in the world. Good fucking riddance!
      Why are Cubans so rightwing? A lot of Cubans did not like Communism. So they left. They are rightwing because they are anti-Communist, as anti-Communists are always hard rightwingers.
      Why are Soviet emigres so rightwing? Same reason. A lot of people don’t like Communism you know. That’s clear to anyone, even Stalin and Mao.
      Cuba has an income of $10,000/yr, not $4,000/yr. Make work projects are better than unemployment. It’s a good idea. Everyone should work.

  3. I know a lot of these idiots too. They in general refuse to work for $8/hour. They consider that to be chump change. After a while, they will go take an $8/hour job somewhere until they get fired. LOL. The very idea that the clowns that I knew would go flip burgers for $4/hour is comical.

    Part of the reason they don’t accept those jobs is because they’ve been told by socialists that they are being taken advantage of by The Man. Its a postmodern phenomenon. And, of course, they don’t have to work because they can get a little money from their mom who might receive government assistance, or they dabble in selling weed, or they leech off their girlfriends.

  4. GucciLittlePiggy, its self selecting immigrants. Of course the ones who leave are going to be right wing. Almost everyone in my family who left the USSR supports the GOP and likes Rush Limbaugh and Beck, while the ones who stayed behind love Putin and love Russia. The secong-largest party in Russia is the Communist Party btw. Cubans arent the most right wing hispanics, or else they would have overthrown Castro. Its just that the ones who leave are so right wing they cant stand it.

  5. To Rob:
    Meanwhile, Cuba has a minimum wage law and has full employment.
    Ahh nope:
    http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-09-17-cuba-joins-mainland-of-austerity
    Cuba joins mainland of austerity
    Authorities announced on Monday that they would lay off more than one-million state employees in the island’s biggest economic shake-up since the 1960s. The cuts begin immediately, with 500 000 jobs due to go by March 2011. Loosened controls on private enterprise will, it is hoped, jump-start the private sector and turn former public workers into entrepreneurs.
    “Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities, services and budgeted sectors with bloated payrolls [and] losses that hurt the economy,” said the Cuban labour federation, which announced the news. “Job options will be increased and broadened with new forms of nonstate employment, among them leasing land, forming co-operatives and self-employment, absorbing hundreds of thousands of workers in the coming years,” it said.

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