FREEDOM ALERT: 03-01-05 >>

Nevada Assembly by a 33-8 vote passed a measure that would increase the Minimum wage in Nevada to $6.15 an hour.

What You Don’t See

Yesterday the Nevada Assembly by a 33-8 vote passed a measure that would increase the Minimum wage in Nevada to $6.15 an hour. This bill comes in the wake of a constitutional Amendment to raise the minimum wage that passed with 68 per cent of the vote in November.

“Why not just pass a law guaranteeing all workers not a minimum wage, but a comfortable wage” said Libertarian Party State Chair, Brendan Trainor. “Why stop at mandating a mere dollar an hour raise for Nevada? Why not make it ten dollars an hour, like many further left want, a so-called sustainable wage? Better yet, why not just pass a law making everybody a

comfortable success in life? How about giving Nevada a real raise, to $100.00 an hour? Why should Nevadans drive old Chevys, when the legislature can just pass a law so we can all afford a Porsche?”

There are few things that economists agree on. The old saw is that if you put every economist in the country end to end, they still would not reach a conclusion. But, the overwhelming majority

of economists agree on this—raising the minimum wage costs jobs. The truth is, employers pay

for what their workers can produce. If a worker cannot produce enough to justify his wage, he

will be laid off. If the government says that you must hire workers who cannot produce enough

to justify a minimum wage, fewer workers will be hired. Or, they will be hired in an underground economy, off the books. Or, prices will be raised, thereby negating the increase in

the minimum wage and hurting other workers who make just a bit more than the minimum wage.

The great libertarian economist Frederick Bastiat called it the difference between what you see, and what you don’t see. Some will see the $2,000 annual raise in their paychecks mandated by the legislature. But, others, the most marginal workers among us, will see nothing, because they will never be hired. And if anyone notices the increase in prices on their restaurant menus or at

the gas pumps, well, there could be any number of reasons for that. Who is to say that the feel

good, decent, well intentioned left is to blame for the unintended consequences their interference in the right of contract between employer and employee has created?

Politicians like to get votes by demonizing segments of society. It is easy to demonize an employer as greedy. Greed is to the left what sex and drugs is to the right-a moral rallying cry, a methodology for imposing a “moral value” on society as a whole. It is also a convenient way to maintain political power, to reward friends and punish enemies. Isn’t political power itself a result of a kind of greed?

“The market place places natural restraints on greed.” says Trainor. “If a worker is underpaid for his skills, in a healthy, vibrant economy he will find another job that pays him what he is worth. The poor have testified it is hard to live on a minimum wage. What is overlooked is the State Government itself is responsible for a good deal of the high cost of living in Nevada, by the taxes, regulations, and other market obstructions it has created. If politicians would concentrate on cleaning their own house, and reducing the cost of living in Nevada that their mandates and prohibitions have raised, all workers, including those earning minimum wage, would be better off.”

The Libertarian Party, founded in 1972, is America’s third largest political party. It believes in

Free minds and Free markets, and is opposed to government interference in voluntary peaceful

transactions between responsible individuals.

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