3rd
Minimum Rage: A Response to Some Dumb Tumblr User
I’m not sure who Squashed is, but he’s clearly the type of person who doesn’t think things through. Let’s all note how he admits his ignorance with regard to Economics, and yet he is clearly a political activist.
A political activist who doesn’t understand something as unbelievably important as the Economy? Trying to push forth a political agenda without understanding Economics is like cheering passioantely for a baseball team when you don’t even know the rules of the game.
Well, it gets worse. Squashed is not only uninformed with regard to Economics, but he also doesn’t understand history very well. Or else he would know that The New Deal — the FDR policies he references later in his argument — was largely unsuccesful.
But what’s really annoying about this guy is that he states his completely bizarre opinions as if they are very clear facts that we should all be taking for gratned. He claims that everyone who is willing to work is entitled to food, a home, and healthcare? And, who, might I ask, is going to build that house, grow that food, and spend eight years studying medicine to treat your rash? Oh, I guess those people don’t need to get paid, because you were willing to work… it doesn’t matter what exactly you were working on… or does it?
Wow, Tumblr sure attracts some really bright people!
I have it on good authority that my previous post contained an implausible hypothetical about tomatoes. I might refer interested parties to recent efforts to boycott fastfood restaraunts due to poor conditions for tomato pickers or argue that an oversupply of unskilled labor is a large part of the reason we have the border tension we. Instead I’ll restate the argument. I haven’t become an economist overnight—and I’d hate to bother any of my actual economist friends over an Internet dispute (but Keith, if you happen to be reading this by RSS anyway, shoot me an email and let me know how I did.) Here is why a minimum wage makes economic sense…
- In a properly constructed society, everybody should be able to afford their basic needs if they are willing to work. Needs include (at least) food, clothing, housing, medical care, and whatever it takes to secure these. Willing to work means merely willing, not both willing and able.
