I saw them discussing this on MSNBC and it really got me to thinking again how enigmatic the conservative position is here. They oppose the MW categorically and they offer up the EITC as an alternative for liberals concerned about workers getting such a paltry wage-so much lower than what any realistic standard of living would be.
Yet. think about it: they're saying that it's preferable to have the government subsidize low wages than for private employers to raise them. This is basically a public subsidy so employers can underpay their employees. The simply argument is this.
Essentially we as a society have decided that we don't want to pay workers less than X-let's for argument say X is $12. Liberals say, the law should compel employers to pay workers at least $12. Conservatives say -we should let companies pay only $8 and have the government pay the last $4. So basically the taxpayer rather than employers themselves should pick up the tab to enable the employers to pay subsistence wages. Yet this is the conservative position on wages?
On MSNBC I saw there was a little bit of disagreement on the consensus of economists on the MW. I think at this point it's basically 50-50-half oppose the MW or a high one anyway half, support it. Yet this is progress comparatively-it used to be about 90 to 10. It changed after a few groundbreaking papers in the 90s. In the 30s FDR passed the Wagner Act over the objections of economists. This shows that sometimes society is ahead of the economists.
Today, no one would listen to arguments in favor of slavery regardless if it was claimed by some Nobel prize winning economist who is a favorite of Stephen Williamson and Tony Yates' peer reviewers. However, economists themselves have come to see their previous simple argument against the MW-a simple supply-demand model where if you raise the price of a good, in this case labor, it's demand goes down. One thing is that the labor market is not just another consumption good-again notice that society and ethics is ahead here, as basic ethical intuition would tell us that's wrong.
Finally, it's good news that we have companies like the GAP and Costco raising their own MW on their own. This shows that Obama's decision to raise the MW of companies that use government contractors is already working.
Yet. think about it: they're saying that it's preferable to have the government subsidize low wages than for private employers to raise them. This is basically a public subsidy so employers can underpay their employees. The simply argument is this.
Essentially we as a society have decided that we don't want to pay workers less than X-let's for argument say X is $12. Liberals say, the law should compel employers to pay workers at least $12. Conservatives say -we should let companies pay only $8 and have the government pay the last $4. So basically the taxpayer rather than employers themselves should pick up the tab to enable the employers to pay subsistence wages. Yet this is the conservative position on wages?
On MSNBC I saw there was a little bit of disagreement on the consensus of economists on the MW. I think at this point it's basically 50-50-half oppose the MW or a high one anyway half, support it. Yet this is progress comparatively-it used to be about 90 to 10. It changed after a few groundbreaking papers in the 90s. In the 30s FDR passed the Wagner Act over the objections of economists. This shows that sometimes society is ahead of the economists.
Today, no one would listen to arguments in favor of slavery regardless if it was claimed by some Nobel prize winning economist who is a favorite of Stephen Williamson and Tony Yates' peer reviewers. However, economists themselves have come to see their previous simple argument against the MW-a simple supply-demand model where if you raise the price of a good, in this case labor, it's demand goes down. One thing is that the labor market is not just another consumption good-again notice that society and ethics is ahead here, as basic ethical intuition would tell us that's wrong.
Finally, it's good news that we have companies like the GAP and Costco raising their own MW on their own. This shows that Obama's decision to raise the MW of companies that use government contractors is already working.
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