Dr. Thomas Sowell is an African American economist, well known for his conservative views and for encouraging hard work and self-sufficiency. He is an author of over 20 books and many publications, a higher education professor for three decades and a recipient of numerous honors like the Francis Boyer Award and National Humanities Medal.
Sowell was born in North Carolina on June 30th, 1930 to a struggling family. His family moved to Harlem, New York as part of the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to north for greater opportunities. Sowell was the first in his family to study beyond the sixth grade, but dropped out of high school due to his family’s financial situation. He worked odd job until he enlisted in the Marine Corps …show more content…
By the simplest and most basic economics, a price artificially raised tends to cause more to be supplied and less to be demanded than when prices are left to be determined by supply and demand in a free market. The result is a surplus, whether the price that is set artificially high is that of farm produce or labor. Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed. Yet minimum wage laws are almost always discussed politically in terms of the benefits they confer on workers receiving those wages. Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they either lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. The logic is plain and an examination of the empirical evidence from various countries around the world tends to back up that logic, as we shall see. (Sowell 232)
This excerpt clearly defines the problem with the government controlling minimum. While politicians make promises to raise to raise minimum wage to attract a following, but rather foster unemployment. For example, if the law forces McDonald’s to pay their employee $15 an hour while only earning the company $10 an hour, the McDonald’s does not make profit. McDonalds must either raise its price although it has high elasticity of demand because there are other fast food substitutes or it must lay off employees. A good intention by the government to help frontline employees leaves them out of
Sowell was born in North Carolina on June 30th, 1930 to a struggling family. His family moved to Harlem, New York as part of the Great Migration of African Americans from the south to north for greater opportunities. Sowell was the first in his family to study beyond the sixth grade, but dropped out of high school due to his family’s financial situation. He worked odd job until he enlisted in the Marine Corps …show more content…
By the simplest and most basic economics, a price artificially raised tends to cause more to be supplied and less to be demanded than when prices are left to be determined by supply and demand in a free market. The result is a surplus, whether the price that is set artificially high is that of farm produce or labor. Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed. Yet minimum wage laws are almost always discussed politically in terms of the benefits they confer on workers receiving those wages. Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they either lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. The logic is plain and an examination of the empirical evidence from various countries around the world tends to back up that logic, as we shall see. (Sowell 232)
This excerpt clearly defines the problem with the government controlling minimum. While politicians make promises to raise to raise minimum wage to attract a following, but rather foster unemployment. For example, if the law forces McDonald’s to pay their employee $15 an hour while only earning the company $10 an hour, the McDonald’s does not make profit. McDonalds must either raise its price although it has high elasticity of demand because there are other fast food substitutes or it must lay off employees. A good intention by the government to help frontline employees leaves them out of