Annals of Derp: Dysarithmia continued

Coldplay, Magic, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, 2014. Via Wikipedia.

So as always, I love it when Brooks dips his toe into economics, because while I really don't know that much about economics, compared to Brooks I'm a master. It's brilliant for my self-esteem. As in the present case, where he is trying to show that Dr. Krugman has been ignoring the research on raising minimum wage hikes, which I started looking at in the previous post.

It's to be presumed here that he doesn't actually know or even care especially what he's talking about at all, of course, but is simply taking instructions from his masters at AEI and the Manhattan Institute and Hoover, Timeswashing their ideas as it were to make them look serious to some particular set of readers who regard themselves as educated and modern and "for heaven's sake, Ethel, I'm not some old fuddy-duddy, I just believe in responsibility", but always glad to learn new reasons for keeping poor people poor.

Because moral philosophy will be taking more and more days off as the 2016 campaign season gets under way.

Today's story boils down to this: ever since the zenith of high capitalism in the late 19th century, progressive forces have been advocating wage floors, on the basically moral-rather-than-economic theory that an employee deserves enough money to keep her- or himself and dependents alive and in some sense decent—shoes on your feet and roof over your head and the kids don't go to bed hungry—and regressive forces have said no because freedom; meaning, obviously freedom for employers, who are the only real people. If the market allows me to get away with paying my workers less than they need to live on, why shouldn't I? Which isn't a very attractive argument, so they've always made other ones, with the assistance of economists.

Annals of derp: Dysarithmia?

Welcome No More Mister Nice Readers!

Yakov Protazanov, Aelita, Queen of Mars, 1924. Image via Little Plastic Things.

It's world-famous economics wonk David Brooks out to defeat that silly old Nobelist Paul Krugman, who was explaining last week how economists no longer believe minimum wage rises cause significant job losses. Not at all, says Brooks (not naming Krugman, as New York Times rules require):

Some of my Democratic friends are arguing that forcing businesses to raise their minimum wage will not only help low-wage workers; it will actually boost profits, because companies will better retain workers. Some economists have reported that there is no longer any evidence that raising wages will cost jobs. Unfortunately, that last claim is inaccurate. There are in fact many studies on each side of the issue.

Well, hm. I'll be updating this in the course of the day eventually, but there's one thing I want to get out right away, in the hope of scooping all my friendly rival Brooksologists, on some of the most illiterate-or-false assertions I've ever seen him make:

I'm against it

What is the purpose, actually, of New York state mandating an increase in the minimum wage to $15 for fast-food workers (in restaurants belonging to chains with more than 30 outlets nationwide; about 180,000 employees in the state, the Times thinks)? I mean, that's nice, as Loomis says, I'm pleased for the workers who have been agitating for this all year, but what about everybody else? What about the home health aids, nursing assistants, and hospital orderlies? What about casino dealers, shampooers, and theater ushers? What about the dishwashers and buspersons and counter attendants in diners and coffee shops and Chinese and Mexican joints and all the food service places that aren't in the fast-food chain category? What about agricultural workers earning an average $12.15 per hour with no overtime or workers' comp? What about thousands of employees of the state earning minimum wage?

The right to aspire

"Make that respect for me, not for you." Via somebody's tumblr.

Just about everybody you might want to hear from is on this astonishingly offensive remark by the governor of New Jersey, but I'd like to help pile on:

"I gotta tell you the truth, I'm tired of hearing about the minimum wage, I really am," Christie said during an event at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, according to a recording of his remarks by the liberal opposition research group American Bridge.

How conservatives think

Celine painted-toe heels, spring 2013. Via.

Something funny from the short-paragraph factory at Heritage Foundation's Daily Dogwhistle, sorry, make that Daily Signal, their would-be counterpart to Think Progress:

War on women. Minimum wage. Climate change.

You hear liberals talking about these same topics all the time. Why?

Switzerland doesn't have a minimum wage...

...Yet.

Start spreading the news... Via Da Mook.

UPDATE BELOW

Gary B. Smith of Fox News, via Crooks & Liars:

SMITH: I know Brenda and before people on the left say “My gosh, that heartless Gary Smith! How can you scrap the minimum wage?” I went around and searched to see if any other developed country scrapped the minimum wage. In fact, Switzerland has no minimum wage.