Friday, November 8, 2013

Minimum Wage, Maximum Racist?


Guess what? I am confused again. This time it is because of minimum wages, living wages, or whatever they are called now.

You see, those who care so much about the poor, these compassionate people, demand that wages be at least set to a minimum, (I think the demand is now $15 per hour), people just cannot live on the current $7.25 per hour. Does that not sound reasonable? As Lee Corso would say: not so fast! I am about to show you all something that brings about my confusion.

Economist Walter Williams, (and fellow economist Thomas Sowell), know some history most people do not know, ignore, or overlook. What history am I talking about? Tell them Professor Williams: "During South Africa's apartheid era, the secretary of its avowedly racist Building Workers' Union, Gert Beetge, said, 'There is no job reservation left in the building industry, and in the circumstances, I support the rate for the job, (minimum wage), as the second-best way of protecting our white artisans.' The South African Nursing Council condemned low wages received by black nurses as unfair. Some nurses said they wouldn't accept wage increases until the wages of black nurses were raised. The South African Economic and Wage Commission of 1925 reported that 'while definite exclusion of the Natives from the more remunerative fields of employment by law has not been urged upon us, the same result would follow a certain use of the powers of the Wage Board under the Wage Act of 1925, or of other wage-fixing legislation. The method would be to fix a minimum rate for an occupation or craft so high that no Native would be likely to be employed.'"

He has more, and it deals with the USA: "Our nation's first minimum wage came in the form of the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931. During the legislative debate over the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets minimum wages on federally financed or assisted construction projects, racist intents were obvious. Rep. John Cochran, D-Mo., supported the bill, saying he had 'received numerous complaints in recent months about Southern contractors employing low-paid colored mechanics getting work and bringing the employees from the South.' Rep. Miles Allgood, D-Ala., complained: 'That contractor has cheap colored labor that he transports, and he puts them in cabins, and it is labor of that sort is in competition with white labor throughout the country.' Rep William Upshaw, D-Ga., spoke of the 'superabundance or large aggregation of Negro labor.' American Federation of Labor President William Green said, 'Colored labor is being sought to demonize wage rates.' The Davis-Bacon Act, still on the books today, virtually eliminated blacks from federally financed construction projects when it was passed."

So, somebody, anybody, and let us put economic principles aside like the law of supply and demand and how that economic law even applies to human labor even though some people think it does not, please explain to me how the minimum wage laws that were put into place by racists to keep blacks from, (paraphrasing here), taking jobs from the white man is supposed to, this time, help poor peoples' standard of living?

Oh, if you think Professor Williams, (who teaches at George Mason University in my home state of Virginia), and his buddy Professor Sowell are hack white dudes who just do not get it, search their names and you'll find out they're black.

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