High minimum wage hurts workers

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minimum wage

Three years ago, the city of Seattle voted to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour in the name of human decency and basic fairness. Several cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have done the same thing. Critics argue that boosting wages by bureaucratic diktat leads to fewer hours and jobs for low-income and low-skilled workers.

Now what The Washington Post calls a “very credible” study from researchers at the University of Washington finds that the critics are right. The Post calls this bad news for liberals. But the real victims are low-skilled workers.

The study finds that when wages were increased to $13, employers cut hours by 9 percent. That means that low-skilled workers saw their monthly compensation decrease by an average of $125.

The findings may surprise progressives who believe that the only limit to higher pay for workers is the greed and selfishness of business owners. But it doesn’t come as a surprise to those who remain unconvinced that the law of supply and demand can be amended by city councils. Labor is simply another cost for any business, and when the price of something goes up, we tend to buy less of it.

And Arizona’s minimum wage went up July 1 to $10 from Proposition 206 passed by voters last year. link

Link: http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/07/05/seattles-minimum-wage-hurts-workers

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New Local Industry: Chino Valley Best Place to Grow Pot

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chino valley az, marijuana

http://dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1086&ArticleID=152771

Chino Valley, a town to the north of Prescott, is one of the best places to grow marijuana – medical marijuana of course, not the recreational kind.

“Chino was identified a long time ago, like more than 20 years ago, as one of the top three regions in the state,” said John Morgan, the dean at Yavapai College’s Career and Technical Education campus near the airport. “You want your greenhouses between the (4,000) and 6,000 feet elevations, because that’s where you find the true four seasons, that’s critical.”

Morgan was one of the people who spoke in favor of the medical marijuana grow industry in Chino Valley at the Nov. 17 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

“You want good water, you don’t want a bunch of pollution, so you need good sunlight,” Morgan said. “Then you need the right kind of water too … and that Big Chino aquafer is pretty good water. It’s (Chino Valley), Willcox and Snowflake that are the top three regions in the state.

Some residents of Chino Valley object to the new, legal marijuana farms.

John Hussman on What’s Wrong with the Economy

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econonics

A long, detailed read but worthwhile from one my favorite economist: http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc150330.htm

If you’re not up for the details, the executive summary is very good. Here are Dr. Hussman’s first 2 points:

• The U.S. has become a nation preoccupied with consumption over investment; outsourcing its jobs, hollowing out its middle class, and accumulating increasing debt burdens to do so.
• U.S. wages and salaries have plunged to the lowest share of GDP in history, while the civilian labor force participation rate has dropped to levels not seen since the 1970’s. Yet consumption as a share of GDP is near a record high. This gap between income and expenses has been financed by debt accumulation, encouraged by the Federal Reserve’s policy of zero interest rates, and enabled by fiscal policies that prioritize income replacement rather than targeted spending and investment.

Obamacare Penalty for no Health Insurance

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health care, obamacare, tax

I’ve been reading debate about whether or not the penalty for not having health insurance under Obamacare is a tax or not. Folks, this is a non issue. The tax on the productive economy, you know that “thing” that creates food, shelter, transportation, energy, other products and services is what the government at all levels spends. It matters not whether the taking is called a tax or penalty. There’s no difference between a direct taking such as sales tax on a retail purchase or income tax or medicare tax or social security tax taken from your paycheck vs. money borrowed by the government selling bonds or the federal reserve printing unbacked dollars. Government spending = Tax burden.

My personal opinion on health care: It is a responsibility not a right. Since I own my body I am responsible for staying healthy by my lifestyle choices primarily, and seeking help when I am ill. If I have minor children then I am responsible for their health too.

Today we have cost problem in the health care industry. The cost basis is way too high. What will bring it down? Increased supply of health care providers and much less government regulation of this sector of the economy. The health care  industry is controlled by a group of interlocking cartels who have succeeded in maintaining monopoly profits because they have captured the government regulatory apparatus and are using it to create barriers to entry.

Yes, these are radical ideas. When conventional remedies continually provide one failure after another, we can conclude that they are incorrect. Time for radical thinking.

Greenspan image tarnished by newly released documents – The Washington Post

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Economics, federal reserve, liberty, us fed

show that Fed leaders, armed with the best economic data available, had little idea of what was looming less than two years off.

via Greenspan image tarnished by newly released documents – The Washington Post.

More proof that central economic planning fails. Always. Abolish the Fed!! and it’s US GOSPLAN.