$12 Minimum Wage: The Libertarian Proposal?????

there should be no minimum wage, and no illegal immigrants. we could make them all go home, simply by putting all tv stations, 24-7, for amonth or so, showing employers of illegal aliens being horsewhipped half to death. With no job offers, they'd go home. They'd have no choice but to go home, or become (even more) criminal than they already are. It's ILLLEGAL to be here without proper paperwork, and WAITING IN LINE like human beings, instead of hogging their way here.. they ARE criminals. If they'd stop having more than one child per woman, they'd soon fix their problems of having too many people for the resources of their country. Along with recognizing property rights, of course.

 

Expect higher unemployment and greater inefficient profiteering! The minimum wage, in terms of libertarianism, is about aiding exchange. Those against it are necessarily supporting a coercive result

 

it should be a felony was what I said as it's tax evasion

 

As mentioned in another reply, Unz is not a libertarian. I have followed his web site and he is definitely not a libertartian or even a conservative, more like a Republican establishment RINO (commonly called Democrat Lite).

 

I don't think I've met an American libertarian. They typically abuse the term. Its very much so with minimum wages, as to be anti-minimum wage is to pro-harm of exchange. For the American libertarians that realise that, I salute you

 

Sorry,but what? Do you mean that a libertarian supports a govt mandated minimum wage?

 

I'm referring to the result of minimum wages: given monopsony power, such policy aids exchange. Those that argue against minimum wages are necessarily supportive of coercion. That isn't libertarian. Indeed, it makes a sham of libertarianism

 

The claim that libertarians would support the govt inserting itself directly between the employee and the employer and dictate wage controls is ridiculous.

 

This is about the distinction between economic reality and ideological flaw. The (fake) libertarian naturally bellows about the evils of the minimum wage, despite supply & demand informing us that it allows for greater exhaustion of mutually beneficial exchange (as shown by job search analysis). They therefore demand a coercive outcome, using dogma to justify the destruction of opportunity and shift to greater unemployment.

 

If the analysis you're referring to only deals with "legitimate" labor, than it's irrelevant in reference to illegals. There is a great deal of off the books labor going on in the US. As for your contention that those who cheat will cheat regardless of the minimum, that doesn't seem to ring true since your incentive to cheat is greater when the disparity between a legally mandated wage and what you can actually pay someone off the books is greater.

 

It is tax evasion, but I don't think it's a felony when the evasion is for withholding amounts. I could be wrong on that though.

 

Wrong! If there is an increased shift towards illegal labour then it will be shown through reduced demand for legitimate labour. Those effects aren't found.

The incentive to cheat already exists. Marginal changes to minimum wages are pretty much irrelevant. If these effects were important then significant disemployment effects from minimum wages would be observed. They are not.

 

I am not sure either, but what I said was "it should be a felony was what I said as it's tax evasion"

 

As a biz owner and observer of hundreds of workers, I can flat tell you that LOTS of people aint worth $4 an hour, much less $12 an hour. Tax evasion, of personal income, is patriotism, and perfectly logical. There shouldn't BE any individual taxes. We need to reduce gov't and the military by a factor of 10 (at the least). Population, too.

 

Certainly the US reliance on military expenditure (from military keynesianism to spin-off technologies) is a problem. However, how do you tackle population problems? Authoritarianism?

An interesting aspect of American libertarianism is that it goes hand in hand with conservatism. And conservatism is linked to the authoritarian personality.

 

by waking people up to how much kids COST. You can retire in 10 years, right here in the US if you just don't waste your life on having kids and have some smarts.. Sheesh.

 

Fertility rates naturally fall with economic wealth. Want lower rates? Ensure greater economic opportunities. The minimum wage of course can't deliver that. There has to be a concerted attempt to break down the US class barriers (given the US apes the UK in terms of social immobility)

 

So you don't see, in the US labor market, a reduced demand for labor? I don't know what studies you are reviewing, but they are not of the US.

 

Most of the studies are from the US. You're seeing reduced demand because of macroeconomic conditions. The evidence into minimum wages shows that employment effects are either insignificant or positive. This is completely inconsistent with your argument

 

Evidence of the minimum wage are actually a mixed bag.

That is why there is no central agreement on the effects of the minimum wage.

 

Not according to the latest meta-analysis. Insignificant effects are the norm

 

that's cause they always raise it by miniscule amounts, and normally, do so during economic expansion. A significant increase, like the 70% increase propounded here, will have serious bad effects, but go ahead, make it $20, crash the economy. I"m ready.

 

Not true. For example, the evidence includes British analysis into the introduction of minimum wages. Also the regression methodology necessarily controls for general macroeconomic effects

 

dunno about britain, except that they've been a lost cause since WW1. but here, when I was 16, the minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. if what you CLEARED had kept up with inflation, it would be $15 an hour. what you actualy clear is about $6 an hour, today. So as I said, the increases have been miniscule.

 

Its not a valid argument. The analysis used includes time series, cross sectional and panel. This ensures sufficient variation in minimum wage rates. And the results? Significant positive effects are now more likely to be found