American Thinker- The latest policy proposal from Senator Bernie Sanders is that the federal government offer a $15-per-hour job to anybody who wants one. If the Sanders policy is actually implemented, it will result in a drastic decline in the standard of living of most Americans, including most low-income Americans. That is, the Sanders policy will result in Americans consuming less in goods and services than we are currently consuming.
The explanation of why the Sanders policy will result in Americans consuming less is simple: the policy will cause Americans to produce less, and you can’t consume more than you produce. The explanation for why the Sanders policy will result in Americans producing less is also simple: it will cause tens of millions of Americans to stop doing useful work and start doing useless work.
Let’s consider a hypothetical American, Mr. John Smith, who works in a widget factory and earns $10 per hour. Suppose his productivity is $12 per hour – that is, every hour of his labor causes the world to be $12 better off. Of the $12’s worth of value he produces, $10 goes to him, and $2 goes to his employer.
If the Sanders policy is implemented, Mr. Smith will quit his $10-per-hour job and go to work for Uncle Sam at $15 per hour. An hour of his labor will no longer be producing $12’s worth of value at the widget factory, but will instead be producing $x‘s worth of value at his government job. If x is less than 12, he is less productive than before.
So how much is x? Well, quite likely, x will be zero. Read more
Wrong. X is most likely to be negative.
This could work if the job is in Venezuela and paid in Bolivars.
Leftism == Sedition.
Let’s look at Bernie Sander’s life. He has been pretty much a failure at everything except getting elected. And as an elected official, you can’t fail. You can get impeached for committing a crime or treason, but otherwise an elected official cannot fail while in office. You don’t even have to have any intelligence, skills or values; all you have to do is get elected and that is your sole responsibility.
Arguing with someone like Sanders or writing an article pointing out to Sanders why he is wrong is a waste of time because Sanders loses nothing by sticking to his policies. There are no repercussions to Sanders if his policies are implemented and they fail. Sanders has just one job – convince 50.1% of voters to vote for him. Anything else is wasted effort because nothing else he does will affect him at all.
Lets see how well he does at 15 an hour first
I can’t survive on $15 an hour, I want $26.37 per hour.
Go sell crazy somewhere else. We’re all stocked up here
Oh, so now it’s about want, huh.
I want a secure border for the sovereignty of our nation.
I want lower income taxes.
I want a free market for health insurance, not forced at gun point to purchase.
I want equality for man and woman, not “diversity” based on gender or ethnicity.
…
Most of all, I want the government smaller, out of our lives as much as possible, and not offer anyone a single damn thing.
Elected officials are there to serve, not sit back do-nothing collect fat paycheck like currently happens, then try to bribe common citizens over to the dark side.
If you could give a liberal everything they wanted. They would complain that they have nowhere to put it all.
Hammer and Sickle ready Jobs….Sounds easier than Shovel ready
Jobs…
As someone wrote in another post – “baby steps.”
Money isn’t necessary in a socialist “economy.” The State determines what is produced, how much is produced, and how it is distributed. So there is no monetization involved. (von Mises)
And Sanders’ goal is the complete socialization of America and the world – and all that that entails – elimination of Freedom, Liberty, and Money – elimination of dissent – elimination of Faith – eradication of humanity (into an insect-like commune) – and the replacement of God by the State.
The State must become the only mediator in human affairs.
(oh, shit, here I go again)
izlamo delenda est …
Let’s start with Sanders. He can give up his cushy senate position ($174K/year) and take the first $15/hour job. At that rate, Sanders could earn a cool $150.00 a year. It would be worse for him if he were paid for the value he creates.