The Jawa Report: Milton Friedman, Supply-Siders Vindicated
What a shock. More feel-good handouts hurt people. Who would have guessed? Oh yeah. The Republicans.
Interesting story today in Reuters about youth unemployment hitting an all-time high – particularly among black youths:
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. economic recession has taken a particularly heavy toll on young Americans, with a record one out five black men aged 20 to 24 neither working nor in school, according to research released on Tuesday.
Now what could have caused, or at least exacerbated, such a development? Was it eeeevil GOP policy? Oil companies? Bankers? "Wall Street?"
Sadly, no. If you want to look for the culprit, look no further than the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. Here’s the Wikipedia rundown of the wage increases mandated by law in the Act (passed in 2007)
The act raises the federal minimum wage in 3 increments: to $5.85 per hour 60 days after enactment (2007-07-24), to $6.55 per hour 12 months after that (2008-07-24), and finally to $7.25 per hour 12 months after that (2009-07-24).
Remember that? It was unfortunately (like most bipartisan legislation) signed by Bush and written by the Democrats. Bush, as we will remember, was a lame duck by this time, so he had nothing to lose in a gesture of "bipartisanship."
The Jawa Report: Milton Friedman, Supply-Siders Vindicated
