George Will gets it right today on the coming push to increase the federal minimum wage:
But the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities’ prices.
That’s spot on. The essay is not perfect, as Kip at A Stitch in Haste points out with a useful economics lesson, but the conclusion is the same. The correct minimum wage is $0. If the uninitiated come away with the wrong justification but the correct conclusion, we can work on the reasoning. Short-term isolated problem versus long-term widespread damage. Easy choice if those are my alternatives.
Of special note, I love this line that Kip wrote to explain Will’s loose semantics:
…sloppily knocking a foul ball down the right-wing line…
His entire post is worth reading, and shows why he should be widely read, but that phrase by itself is excellent. I wish I’d written it.
You still care what George Will has to say? I’m surprised you (or anyone in the blogosphere) would want to quote this guy after his recent anti-blogger tirade.
For the most part, no. His anti-blogger tirade didn’t bother me because that’s just him being a blowhard. I can ignore that. Where he lost me was his nonsensical attack on Sen. Jim Webb after Sen. Webb told President Bush that he wanted us out of Iraq. Mr. Will skewed the facts to make a point, costing him much credibility. Now I just skim the headline. This article interested me.