Michael Saltsman published an excellent article about Connecticut's mandated sick leave in today's Wall Street Journal. Connecticut, under Governor Dan Malloy (D), has mandated sick leave for all Connecticut employers. Saltsman shows why this policy will destroy jobs and harm the state's poorest workers. The propaganda that supported the new law used statistical means and medians, making claims such as "the average employer did not find that they had to reduce employment levels." But this use of measures of central tendency reveals misunderstanding of how economies work.
All employers are different. About 70% of Connecticut employers already gave sick leave, and 70% said in surveys that mandated sick leave would not affect them. Rather than the average, the marginal employer, such as a bodega, which is deciding whether or not to hire a part-time, low-wage employee, had been less likely to offer sick leave. This kind of employer will reduce employment and fringe benefits, including training. It will stop hiring less-qualified employees, forcing young people into European-style permanent unemployment.
The people whom Governor Malloy and the Democrats have hurt are the poorest and most vulnerable: high school dropouts who need to develop platform skills that will enable them to function in honest jobs. Some will now remain in permanent unemployment, dependent upon the State of Connecticut for welfare.
As well, the claim that low-margin employers will benefit from the mandate, made by the law's supporters, is nonsensical. Once again we see Progressives grinding the poor under their Gucci heels. They do so by claiming that they help the poor, when in reality they are helping crony socialists, labor unions, attorneys, and large employers, whose smaller competitors cannnot afford to offer benefits.
The states that have seen employment decline the most, have the most income inequality, and have the largest rates of exit, like New York, are the same states that have passed regulations that harm small employers at the expense of large, reducing the economy's dynamism by freezing out new and entrepreneurial firms and ideas. It is not surprising that academics, who benefit directly from the socialist gravy train, generally support such measures.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Coprolite: A Good Vocabulary Word to Describe Congressman Maurice Hinchey
I found a good vocabulary word to describe Congressman Maurice Hinchey.
cop·ro·lite
[kop-ruh-lahyt]
–noun
Sunday, July 24, 2011
America No Longer Home of the Free
I have heard from an anonymous source in one of the organizations that rates the degree of freedom in nations around the world that the rating for the US going to fall to approximately 10, i.e., that following the administrations of Barack H. Obama and George W. Bush America is now roughly the tenth freest country in the world, down several notches from the last rating. The source was not willing to divulge the exact ranking but when pressed said that there would be a significant downgrade.
This generation of Americans bears responsibility for putting its commitment to the two party system ahead of its commitment to liberty. That the average American's real hourly wage has not grown in 40 years is due to the ignorant belief that large-scale social programs can outperform a competitive economy in producing gains for the average American. In fact, the stagnation of the real hourly wage began in 1970 or so during the expansion of regulation that began in the late 1960s and continued into the early 1970s. We can expect further declines thanks to the ignorant policies of Democrats and Progressive Republicans and advocated by the legacy media.
In the late 1940s Friedrich von Hayek described America's path as a road to serfdom. The train is in the station. Americans are becoming serfs, just as Europeans have always been.
This generation of Americans bears responsibility for putting its commitment to the two party system ahead of its commitment to liberty. That the average American's real hourly wage has not grown in 40 years is due to the ignorant belief that large-scale social programs can outperform a competitive economy in producing gains for the average American. In fact, the stagnation of the real hourly wage began in 1970 or so during the expansion of regulation that began in the late 1960s and continued into the early 1970s. We can expect further declines thanks to the ignorant policies of Democrats and Progressive Republicans and advocated by the legacy media.
In the late 1940s Friedrich von Hayek described America's path as a road to serfdom. The train is in the station. Americans are becoming serfs, just as Europeans have always been.
Ron Paul and Barack Obama Neck and Neck
Despite the legacy media's pro-Barack Obama and -Mitt Romney bias, and its exclusion of Ron Paul, Rasmussen reports that if an election were held today Paul would poll 37% to Obama's 41% (h/t Mike Marnell). Several other Republicans also poll close to Obama, but the only one who currently beats him is Romney (43% Romney versus 42% Obama). Chris Christie does almost as well as Paul (37% Christie to 44% Obama). Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is not included in the Rasmussen poll.
It is not surprising that the legacy media excludes a viable candidate like Paul from coverage because (a) announcers like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are ignorant knuckleheads who do not know why Paul opposes the Fed and (b) Paul's opposition to the Fed's existence would harm O'Reilly's, Hannity's, Chris Matthew's employers, who benefit from the Fed at public expense.
In addition, Rasmussen notes in its daily presidential tracking poll that Obama's numbers are weaker than ever despite the legacy media's incessant advocacy in his favor. Rasmussen writes:
For the first time since March, Strong Disapproval of the president has been at 40% or above for seven straight days. On Saturday, consumer confidence fell again, reaching another new two-year low. Investor confidence also fell to the lowest level since December 2009. Most voters fear that any deal on the debt ceiling debate will raise taxes too much and cut spending too little. As the negotiations continue, most also are unhappy with both the Republicans and the Democrats in Washington.
Astonishingly, Romney does and Paul does not defeat Obama in a hypothetical race. It remains a puzzle to me why the American public, which has, for the past 40 years, seen the worst economic performance in the nation's history, continues to vote for Republicrat Progressives like Obama and Romney, who have been sucking them dry financially. Americans are voting for their own economic demise. Paul would shake things up and make life miserable for crony socialists who have been extracting wealth from the public for decades in the name of helping the little guy, starting with George Soros and his fellow thieves on Wall and Broad.
It is not surprising that the legacy media excludes a viable candidate like Paul from coverage because (a) announcers like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are ignorant knuckleheads who do not know why Paul opposes the Fed and (b) Paul's opposition to the Fed's existence would harm O'Reilly's, Hannity's, Chris Matthew's employers, who benefit from the Fed at public expense.
In addition, Rasmussen notes in its daily presidential tracking poll that Obama's numbers are weaker than ever despite the legacy media's incessant advocacy in his favor. Rasmussen writes:
For the first time since March, Strong Disapproval of the president has been at 40% or above for seven straight days. On Saturday, consumer confidence fell again, reaching another new two-year low. Investor confidence also fell to the lowest level since December 2009. Most voters fear that any deal on the debt ceiling debate will raise taxes too much and cut spending too little. As the negotiations continue, most also are unhappy with both the Republicans and the Democrats in Washington.
Astonishingly, Romney does and Paul does not defeat Obama in a hypothetical race. It remains a puzzle to me why the American public, which has, for the past 40 years, seen the worst economic performance in the nation's history, continues to vote for Republicrat Progressives like Obama and Romney, who have been sucking them dry financially. Americans are voting for their own economic demise. Paul would shake things up and make life miserable for crony socialists who have been extracting wealth from the public for decades in the name of helping the little guy, starting with George Soros and his fellow thieves on Wall and Broad.
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