The Minimum Wage Does Almost Nothing for Low Wage Workers

Mark Perry points out that doubling the minimum wage does not provide much net financial benefit to low wage earners. 

Lockdowns Do Not Control the Virus. Evidence from Europe

Last year the Fauci Oracle said that Europe was managing Covid better than the US because they were employing more widespread economic shutdowns. If so, why wasn't the mortality rate different there? Why do more widespread shutdowns not result in lower death rates? Any statistician can answer that question for you. easily.

Mask Mandates Unmasked

 More research confirms what we (and the CDC) have always known:

“Mask mandates and use are not associated with slower state-level COVID-19 spread during COVID-19 growth surges."

The CDC has known this for years, but kept quiet to protect politicians. 

“There is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure. Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.”

The fact is that THE SCIENCE governors continually said they were following is not science. It was simply an effort to obscure the fact that they have no power to control a virus. They never like to admit that they don't possess god-like power, so they invented a Kabuki Theater of masks, hand washing, sanitizing, arbitrary and selective restrictions (you may attend BLM rallies, but not go to church). 

The Unaffordable Healthcare Results

After the "Affordable Healthcare" Act passed, health insurance became LESS affordable and LESS available.  

Of course, not all states suffered this way. Six states were able to get Obamacare waivers. In those states premiums actually dropped by around 10%.

Thank you Democrats.

More People = More Abundance (Economist versus Biologists)

Contrary to what "experts" and media say, we are NOT running out of resources or being threatened by over population. 

We found that humanity is experiencing what we term Superabundance—a condition where abundance is increasing at a faster rate than the population is growing. Data suggests that additional human beings tend to benefit, rather than impoverish, the rest of humanity.

The Simon Abundance Index 2021 - HumanProgress

The Simon Abundance Index is measured in time prices. To calculate a commodity’s time price, the nominal price of a commodity is divided by the global average nominal hourly wage. Over the last 40 years, the average nominal price of the 50 commodities rose by 51.9 percent, and the global average nominal hourly wage rose by 412.4 percent. So, the average time price of the 50 commodities fell by 75.2 percent.

 

Minimum Wage = Lower Total Compensation

 This study published in the Harvard Business Review by three economists demonstrates that when companies are forced to pay wages higher than the market price (e.g. minimum wage laws), they will adjust other labor factors to compensate. In fact their conclusion is that the higher minimum wage results in lower worker compensation. 

in the stores that experienced a minimum wage hike, workers on average worked fewer hours per week, were less likely to qualify for benefits, and had less-consistent schedules. These factors corresponded to an average 11.6% decrease in total compensation for every $1 increase in the minimum wage.

https://hbr.org/2021/06/research-when-a-higher-minimum-wage-leads-to-lower-compensation

Mask Mandates Do Not Stop Viruses

 A very detailed statistical statistical analysis by two biology professors on "Mask mandate and use efficacy in state-level COVID-19 containment" came to this conclusion:

In summary, mask mandates and use were poor predictors of COVID-19 spread in US states. Case growth 282 was independent of mandates at low and high rates of community spread, and mask use did not predict 283 case growth during the Summer or Fall-Winter waves

No Evidence that Lockdowns Work Part 3

If there is one chart the sums up the effectiveness of mask mandates, lockdowns and other restrictive measures, it is this one. Lockdowns may give you the illusion of DOING SOMETHING (and they clearly give government control over your life), but they do NOTHING to change the course of a virus. 

 

No Evidence That Lockdowns Work -- Part 2

 The states that locked down their economics, obviously had the worst economic performance, but those costs are not even offset by lower mortality rates. NY, NJ, MI, IL and PA had way above average excess death rates. One might have been tempted to cut these governor some slack a year ago, but this has been quite evident for some time. They simply do not want to admit how wrong they were -- and continue to be. 

No Evidence That Lockdowns Work

If lockdowns are effective in stopping the virus, then shouldn’t those states that lock down have fewer deaths per capita than those states that didn’t lock down? Yet government continues to play up this hoax. Perhaps because stopping the virus isn't really their objective?

Climate Change in the Holocene Era.

I don’t pretend to be a climatologist, but I can read graphs. Even if the climate has been in a warming trend the last few decades, why should we think that would be terribly alarming or unusual? Climate alarmists like John Kerry say we have only a few years left to "save the planet from destruction". But even their apocalyptic forecasts are far below the temperatures of a few thousand years ago. 

The Big Factor Contributing to the "Wealth Gap"

 The media is constantly telling us about the "wealth gap" between white families and black families. Does the chart below suggest a factor other than racial discrimination why this might be?

Biden's Plan to Drive Corporations Away from the US

 Joe Biden is proposing that the United States become the worst place in the world to domicile a corporation. Even a first year economics student can tell you what will happen if that occurs. Capital is more fluid today than ever, and it moves from where it is poorly treated to where it is well treated. 

Media LIes About Forest Fires

The media keeps fanning the flames of climate change, claiming that forest fires are increasing because of increased CO2. Just another lie in service of an agenda. 

Poverty Around the World is Decreasing Rapidly

Thanks to the media drumbeat of Fake News, people have no idea that poverty is decreasing around the world. 

1%ers Are Not Paying Their Fair Share

The "One Percent" are not paying their fair share. They are paying as much as the bottom 95% of taxpayers do. 

The Poor Are Getting Poorer? No, They're Not

According to the rhetoric from Democrats, the poor are getting poorer. The problem, as usual, is that this ignores the facts. Source: https://www.humanprogress.org/the-simon-abundance-index-2020/ 

The time price denotes the amount of time that a person has to work in order to earn enough money to buy something. To calculate the time price, the nominal money price is divided by nominal hourly income. (We got the former from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the latter by combining the World Bank’s GDP figures with Conference Board’s estimate of annual hours worked.) The average time price of 50 commodities fell by 74.2 percent. That means that for the same length of time that a person needed to work to earn enough money to buy one unit in our basket of 50 commodities in 1980, he or she could buy 3.87 units in 2019. In other words, the average person saw his or her level of abundance rise by 287.4 percent.

Figure 1: Time Price Toolkit (1980-2019)

White Male Privilege

Mark Perry serves up this chart showing the income of American white men relative to female non-white women. 

Economics Is About The Unseen. Politics About the Seen

 Zaldy Dandan made this excellent observation

Economics is mostly about “that which is not seen.” In contrast, politics deals with “that which is seen,” and so, all around the world, when it comes to economic issues, many politicians are in favor of the “obvious”:

• Wages are low? Increase them.
• Prices and rents are high? Control them.
• Money should stay here so it can “circulate.”
• Exports good, imports bad.
• Trade deficits are bad.
• Raise taxes to collect more revenue.
• Natural disasters are good for the economy.
• People first before profit.
• “You didn’t build that!”
• “You don't necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country.”
• Sincere, well-meaning, highly educated leaders with integrity and political will, a la Plato’s philosopher-king, can solve our economic problems through planning and legislation in close consultation with experts and scientists.

White Privilege

Clearly your income is influenced by your ethnicity. Just not as the media portrays it.