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A Defining Moment (Sowell on Romney & minimum wage)
Creators Syndicate ^ | February 7, 2012 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 02/06/2012 10:56:14 AM PST by jazusamo

Governor Mitt Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor has been treated as a gaffe in much of the media, and those in the Republican establishment who have been rushing toward endorsing his coronation as the GOP's nominee for president — with 90 percent of the delegates still not yet chosen — have been trying to sweep his statement under the rug.

But Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor — because they "have a very ample safety net" — was followed by a statement that was not just a slip of the tongue, and should be a defining moment in telling us about this man's qualifications as a conservative and, more important, as a potential President of the United States.

Mitt Romney has come out in support of indexing the minimum wage law, to have it rise automatically to keep pace with inflation. To many people, that would seem like a small thing that can be left for economists or statisticians to deal with.

But to people who call themselves conservatives, and aspire to public office, there is no excuse for not being aware of what a major social disaster the minimum wage law has been for the young, the poor and especially for young and poor blacks.

It is not written in the stars that young black males must have astronomical rates of unemployment. It is written implicitly in the minimum wage laws.

We have gotten so used to seeing unemployment rates of 30 or 40 percent for black teenage males that it might come as a shock to many people to learn that the unemployment rate for sixteen- and seventeen-year-old black males was just under 10 percent back in 1948. Moreover, it was slightly lower than the unemployment rate for white males of the same age.

How could this be?

The economic reason is quite plain. The inflation of the 1940s had pushed money wages for even unskilled, entry-level labor above the level specified in the minimum wage law passed ten years earlier. In other words, there was in practical effect no national minimum wage law in the late 1940s.

My first full-time job, as a black teenage high-school dropout in 1946, was as a lowly messenger delivering telegrams. But my starting pay was more than 50 percent above the level specified in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Liberals were of course appalled that the federal minimum wage law had lagged so far behind inflation — and, in 1950, they began a series of escalations of the minimum wage level over the years.

It was in the wake of these escalations that black teenage unemployment rose to levels that were three or four times the level in 1948. Even in the most prosperous years of later times, the unemployment rate for black teenage males was some multiple of what it was even in the recession year of 1949. And now it was often double the unemployment rate for white males of the same ages.

This was not the first or the last time that liberals did something that made them feel good about themselves, while leaving havoc in their wake, especially among the poor whom they were supposedly helping.

For those for whom "racism" is the explanation of all racial differences, let me assure them, from personal experience, that there was not less racism in the 1940s.

For those who want to check out the statistics — and I hope that would include Mitt Romney — they can be found detailed on pages 42 to 45 of "Race and Economics" by Walter Williams.

Nor are such consequences of minimum wage laws peculiar to blacks or to the United States. In Western European countries whose social policies liberals consider more "advanced" than our own, including more generous minimum wage laws and other employer-mandated benefits, it has been common in even prosperous years for unemployment rates among young people to be 20 percent or higher.

The economic reason is not complicated. When you set minimum wage levels higher than many inexperienced young people are worth, they don't get hired. It is not rocket science.

Milton Friedman explained all this, half a century ago, in his popular little book for non-economists, "Capitalism and Freedom." So have many other people. If a presidential candidate who calls himself "conservative" has still not heard of these facts, that simply shows that you can call yourself anything you want to.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012; minimumwage; romney; sowell; thomassowell
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1 posted on 02/06/2012 10:56:22 AM PST by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

If the “very ample safety net” worked, there wouldn’t be the very poor.


2 posted on 02/06/2012 11:00:42 AM PST by bgill (The Obama admin is staging a coup. Wake up, America, it's almost too late.)
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To: abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; Battle Axe; ...
*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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Recent columns
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Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to or removed from the Thomas Sowell ping list…

3 posted on 02/06/2012 11:00:42 AM PST by jazusamo (Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

I remember my first job at 14. It was cutting tobacco in the fields. Tough work, You got a hot meal for lunch that went with it.I got paid $5.00 a day.My first job after High School was at $1.35 cents an hour. The good part was gasoline was 19 cents a gallon.


4 posted on 02/06/2012 11:04:33 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Venturer

Increasing the minimum wage like Commie Romney suggests will only cause further inflation. He’s such a damn clueless liberal.


5 posted on 02/06/2012 11:20:07 AM PST by bigdirty
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To: jazusamo

How I wish a great man like Thomas Sowell was President. What a splendid mind.


6 posted on 02/06/2012 11:25:32 AM PST by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just LawD)
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To: jazusamo

It’s of no wonder to me that this great American has endorsed Newt Gingrich and that he sees right through LIBERAL Romney.


7 posted on 02/06/2012 11:29:12 AM PST by onyx (SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC, DONATE MONTHLY. If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, let me know.)
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To: onyx

I agree...He’s started speaking out against Romney just as he did against Obama, he saw through both of them.


8 posted on 02/06/2012 11:34:00 AM PST by jazusamo (Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud: Thomas Sowell)
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To: bgill
If the “very ample safety net” worked, there wouldn’t be the very poor.

I am curious, what you mean by worked?

The Food Stamp and other programs are working exactly as they were designed -- to build a voter base for the Rats. The programs were designed to destroy to trap and destroy the futures of millions of poor.

If anyone thinks these programs were designed to show compassionate help for the downtrodden, then they need a serious reading of history.

9 posted on 02/06/2012 11:35:11 AM PST by sand88 (Nothing on this Earth would get me to vote for Mitt.)
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Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

10 posted on 02/06/2012 11:35:35 AM PST by jazusamo (Character assassination is just another form of voter fraud: Thomas Sowell)
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To: onyx
It’s of no wonder to me that this great American has endorsed Newt Gingrich and that he sees right through LIBERAL Romney.

People I can believe and trust as true conservatives who have endorsed Newt and not the Bishop Mitt Romney...

* Thomas Sowell
* Jim Robinson
* Herman Cain
* Rick Perry
* Todd Palin (and 70% of his wife ...at this point)

Too bad there are no current Senators or Congress-critters with some spine willing to do the same. I've heard from McCain, Trump and their ilk. Where are the conservative voices in the chamber?

Note to all "conservatives" who are running for office in 2012: The friend of my enemy is my enemy!

11 posted on 02/06/2012 11:41:02 AM PST by The Citizen Soldier (America needs Gingrich in 2012 about as much as England needed Churchill in 1940!)
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To: sand88
The programs were designed to destroy to trap and destroy the futures of millions of poor.

...and imprison them in housing projects far from the elite liberals who keep them there with our tax money.

12 posted on 02/06/2012 11:45:13 AM PST by The Citizen Soldier (America needs Gingrich in 2012 about as much as England needed Churchill in 1940!)
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To: sand88
These programs do indeed build a democrat voting base, but the plight of the desperately poor, hopelessly entangled and trapped in so-called the “safety net” really is tragic. It barely keeps body and soul together, and there is little escape from it these days because it is so difficult to find work.
13 posted on 02/06/2012 11:56:37 AM PST by erkelly (Never underestimate the stupidity of the stupid party!)
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To: sand88
The Food Stamp and other programs are working exactly as they were designed -- to build a voter base for the Rats.

I hope people also consider that Santorum is on record as voting to RAISE the national minimum wage, and voting to PREVENT Congress from making cuts in the foodstamp program.

GODSPEED NEWT GINGRICH

14 posted on 02/06/2012 12:15:27 PM PST by Finny ("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent)
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To: jazusamo
Democrats instituted the minimum wage standard in 1938 to price African Americans and other minorities out of the labor market. Today the law still adversely affects the most vulnerable members of the labor force such as black teenagers.

Labor unions, prime Democrat contributors, lobby for minimum wage increases because the rate is used as a benchmark for higher union wages.

15 posted on 02/06/2012 12:26:37 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: jazusamo
One of the many, many reasons I have found the term RINO to be quite inaccurate. The Republicans in the ilk of Romney and many others should be referred to as CINO’s - Conservative In Name Only.Hence Mr. Sowell's last line:
"If a presidential candidate who calls himself "conservative" has still not heard of these facts, that simply shows that you can call yourself anything you want to."
16 posted on 02/06/2012 12:29:55 PM PST by ImpBill ("America, where are you now?" - Little "r" republican!)
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To: erkelly

“...there is little escape from it these days because it is so difficult to find work.”

The existence of these programs is not unconnected from the difficulties in finding work. These programs have direct and indirect costs. The direct costs are the crushing tax burdens on businesses, the indirect costs are 1)the unskilled and uneducated labor force, and 2) the lack of moral character of the labor force this system creates. Thus, there are simply no jobs for these people because not enough are created in a hostile business climate, and the people it creates are never going to be qualified to fill the jobs that are created.


17 posted on 02/06/2012 12:41:53 PM PST by henkster (Obama regime mission statement: "Find the people working, and stop them!")
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To: jazusamo
RINOmney says these things because he is not a conservative.

Not close. He needs conservative coaches and consultants to tell you what you want to hear. Why there are those here who actually believe anything he says is unfathomable.

18 posted on 02/06/2012 1:16:32 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion (I wouldnÂ’t vote for Romney for dog catcher if he was in a three way race against Lenin and Marx!)
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To: jazusamo
Yes, Sowell is a man of remarkable wisdom and honesty.

But he's swing-and-a-miss on minimum wage.

Thanks to legal and illegal immigration, America has a massive oversupply of low skill labor.

Thanks to automation, supply chain management, and foreign competition, American demand for low skill labor has steadily declined for 40 years.

And thanks to the cultural catastrophe in the Black community, trying to manage low skill Black workers is the most challenging business assignment in America.

Reducing or eliminating the minimum wage will not solve any of those problems.

I've been a free enterprise Conservative since I was folding laundry in my Dad's hotel in the 1950’s.

But I've changed my mind about the minimum wage.

I think setting a high minimum wage would create two important outcomes:

(1) It would force marginal or poorly managed businesses to close.
(2) It would force successful businesses to continuously improve their management, their products, their production process, and their capital investment.

19 posted on 02/06/2012 1:49:21 PM PST by zeestephen
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To: jazusamo
On previous minimum wage discussion pages, I have posted the following Walter Williams wisdom. It bears sharing again:

The following message was published many years ago, utilizing Walter Williams' warning about the negative consequences of minimum wage laws on families and those who most need work experience and earnings. His words were true then, and he repeated the same message recently on Stossel.

Min. Wage

Dr. Williams understands and has been teaching, speaking, and writing for decades about the tragic consequences of the so-called "progressive" policies which Democrats have inflicted upon Americans--all in the name of "helping" them.

As America's Founders knew, slavery to government is no better than slavery to individual masters. Yet, the "regressives" continue to buy power and influence by promoting policies that destroy opportunity, prosperity, and freedom for our own and future generations.

In the case of the minimum wage, as Williams also has pointed out, union wages at the upper limits increase, while opportunity for youth and low-skilled workers is destroyed.

20 posted on 02/06/2012 2:32:12 PM PST by loveliberty2
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