It appears as though the war on poverty in the U.S. has been won. (Why do so many people on the political left insist on denying what might well be evidence of the effectiveness and success of their programs?)
The war on poverty, however, has emphatically not been won across the globe. Bjorn Lomborg argues that freer trade and freer migration would help to win that war.
Mark Perry weighs in on the inevitable ill consequences of Seattle’s attempt to outlaw the employment of all workers who are unable to produce at least as much as $15 per hour of value for employers. (Many people think that such legislation is humane. But the people who think this way are duped by the title of the legislation and by the fine-sounding public proclamations of the legislation’s supporters. Suppose, though, that this legislation were called, not a “minimum wage,” but instead a “prohibition on the paid employment of any and all persons who are unable to produce more than $14.99 per hour of value for employers.” How much popular support would the legislation have then? How many journalists and pundits would continue to think of the Seattle politicians who pushed this statute as being especially progressive and wise? How many economists would cast aside the core and foundational principles of their discipline in order to devise ad hoc justifications for such legislation?)
