The Living Wage Myth

A new study has been seized upon by proponents as a “proof text” against critics of living-wage laws. The success claimed for such policies by that study, however, is, in fact, far less than implied by the innumerable “Living Wage Laws Reduce Poverty” stories it has spawned. At most, the study only shows that some low-income workers may gain more than other low-income workers lose.

Value and the Environment

In the real world, human action can only manifest itself through material objects; man must utilize the resources that nature gives in order to employ means. If man desires to live, he must obtain food, shelter, and other physical necessities. On the most fundamental level, to exist in this universe, man must occupy space.

Lumber: A 29 Percent Tax

It is ironic that America is often derided by some critics for its rough-and-tumble capitalism--hence, these critics maintain, the need for government interventions of every kind. Reality, however, is quite different; America’s brand of capitalism seems to enjoy freshening the wells of failure. In America, if you’re big enough and rich enough, or if you have a world-class lobbying team, you can get the American taxpayer to underwrite your failures.

Direct from Chile

Many Americans probably feel that eating Chilean fruit costs America jobs. Think of the jobs that could be created, goes their argument, if laws prevented Americans from buying Chilean fruit. At the very least, we should all “buy American.” What a boost to the economy, huh? Wrong!

Is Velocity Like Magic?

Contrary to popular thinking, the velocity of money doesn’t have a life of its own. It is not an independent entity, hence it can’t cause anything, let alone offset the effect of an explosion in the supply of money on prices of goods and services.

“Bad Medicine” or Bad Economics?

While most of the writings of Paul Krugman are, to me, analogous to one’s scraping his fingernails on a chalkboard, I must admit to reading his stuff. His latest gripe about a story on how many doctors are refusing to see more Medicare patients provides ample proof that one can be called an “economist,” yet not know much about economics.1

How to Think About Losses

While it is perfectly clear that an individual capitalist or speculator may make losses on the stock exchange, it is very doubtful whether “society” can make such losses. The question with which we are concerned here is whether an individual’s losses from domestic stock exchange transactions represent a loss to the society to which that individual belongs.

The Statist Ethos

Robert Kaplan’s newest book seems to be, bottom line, a briefing book to justify the switches and turns, contradictions, and conflicting rationales for American foreign policy and the domestic political control to which it is tightly bound, while freeing the government to to do anything it wants, anywhere in the world it wants.

Is the Recession Over?

The policies the Fed cooked up during the mid-1990s that brought on the unsustainable boom (mistakenly called the “New Economy”) are also the policies that Greenspan employed in the last year, ostensibly to give us a “soft landing.” The government is now engaged in a number of foolish regulatory ventures that certainly will make economic life more difficult as we seek to climb out of this latest downturn.

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