“A breath in favour of the law, was sufficient to ruin any man. It was considered as a badge of toryism. A clergyman was not thought orthodox in the pulpit, unless against the law: a physician was not capable of administering medicine, unless his principles were right in this respect: a lawyer could have got no practice, without at least concealing his sentiments, if for the law: a merchant, at a country store, could not get custom. On the contrary, to talk against the law, was the one way to office and emolument.

The City Council of Santa Fe, New Mexico has raised the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour and the fallout was what you would expect:

Journal of Libertarian Studies 19, no. 3 (Summer 2005)

In his column in The New York Times, Paul Krugman attacks Walmart for its claim that it creates jobs. Krugman notes that Walmart’s competition against other retailers also destroys the jobs its competitors had offered before being put out of business by its competition. He attempts to show that Walmart has destroyed more jobs in this way than it has created.

Or: “We’ll keep the green flag flying!”

As this excerpt from a rather uncritical article by CFO.com reveals, we are being asked to deify not so much the Labour Theory of Value, as the Gaia Theory of Value, so as to prevent all hardened capitalists from driving dear old Mother Earth down to a subsistence wage:-

It’s that time again. Time to select the best articles of 2005. To get the ball rolling, here are 25 contenders for a Top 10 list of best Daily Articles appearing this year on Mises.org. Feel free to add your favorites and send nominations and passionate opinions to best2005@mises.org: