Thomas Sowell writes wisely about the officiousness of politicians and bureaucrats overriding the voluntary choices of each of hundreds of millions of unique individuals. (HT Warren Smith) A slice:
Minimum wage laws are described as preventing workers from being “exploited” by employers who pay less than what third parties want them to pay. But would people accept wages that third parties don’t like if there were better alternatives available?
This is an issue that is very personal to me. When I left home at the age of 17, going out into the world as a black high school dropout with very little experience and no skills, the minimum wage law had been rendered meaningless by ten years of inflation since the law was passed. In other words, there was no minimum wage law in effect, for all practical purposes.
It was far easier for me to find jobs then than it is for teenage black high school dropouts today. After the minimum wage was raised to keep up with inflation, for decades the unemployment rate for black male 17-year-olds never fell below TRIPLE what it was for me — and in some years their unemployment rate was as much as five times what it was when I was a teenager.
Richard Ebeling reminds us of David Hume’s celebration of commerce.
All of these points [made by those who would ban flag burning] boil down to the following logic, “I’m offended by flag burning.” As I tell my students, the response to the “argument” of “I’m offended” should be simple.
I don’t care.
One’s personal feelings do not constitute an argument – ever.
David Henderson extends Hayek’s insight about local knowledge.
