In part 1 of this series I introduced the Supreme Court decision from the 1923 Adkins v Children’s Hospital to illustrate the opinion of minimum wage laws that was still common prior to the Great Depression. This decision struck down a minimum wage law in the District of Columbia as
Tag Archives: great depression
Minimum Wage: An Historical Viewpoint, Part 1
Metropolitan Hospital Infirmary Ward, 1900
Image located at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/capitalism/landmark_adkins.html
If you have spent much time reading my blog you will know that I have written quite a bit about the immorality of minimum wage laws. Such laws insert government force into what would otherwise be voluntary, mutually beneficial arrangements. Because such laws are immoral and violate the rights of both workers and employers, the results they produce are harmful to everyone, especially those they are intended to help, the young and unskilled. As I wrote in 2013:
A 2011
Government Created Jobs?
We hear a lot these days about how the government should be working to “create” jobs for Americans. While those in government want people to believe that such jobs will be “good paying” (whatever that means) private sector jobs, the reality is that the government cannot actually create such jobs. Government can indirectly affect private sector jobs only be reducing taxes and regulations on all businesses. Any other methods, such as subsidies for select businesses, cannot