Wednesday, August 09, 2006
More Proof That Liberals Have No Grasp of Economics
A liberal editorial writer in Pittsburgh has demonstrated once again and for all to see just how totally irrelevant facts and logical argument are to folks who want to see the role of government swell even further.
The complaints this time? Wages aren’t rising fast enough and jobs only expanded by 113,000 in July. The working people of America are being put through a wringer while the rich just keep getting richer. And, horror, the administration will try to take people’s minds off the economy for the November elections by dragging the country deeper into Middle East hostilities.
Maybe the writer has not noticed that the economy has cranked out 5.5 million payroll jobs since July 2003, boosting employment far above the five year ago level. Something Pittsburgh cannot claim. The op-ed writer might also want to look at the 2.4 million increase in the number of people working over the last year with 7.4 million more working than five years ago.
Moreover, how serious can the editorialist claim that people are dropping out of the job market out of despair when the there were nearly 700,000 more people in the labor force in July compared to June?
Meanwhile, the relatively slow increases in wages the writer complains about are easily understood if one takes a moment to reflect on factors affecting wages. First of all the massive increases in health care costs have forced employers to limit wage hikes in order to control the rise in total compensation costs. Second, the staggering numbers of illegal aliens that have entered the country in the last several years are clearly having a depressing effect on the wages of not only unskilled workers but they are also driving down wages in skilled occupations such as painters, dry wall installers, etc.
If one wants to do something useful to allow the market to push wages higher, they might want to get behind a program to slow the uncontrolled flow of aliens into the country. They might also want to support efforts to slow the growth in the cost of medical care including placing caps on punitive damage awards in malpractice cases.
It might also be pointed out that the absence of upward wage pressure allows interest rates to remain relatively low, especially long-term rates and mortgage rates. Both of which are very helpful to wage earners who are homebuyers and homeowners.
It would also be helpful if we could get liberals to allow more drilling in the US territories and allow some new refineries to be built. Otherwise the complaints about gasoline prices from these folks are a tactic to divert attention from their own culpability.
The real interest is in beating up the administration while enjoying the supposed moral high ground of opposing every meaningful reform that would actually solve some of the problems they are so concerned about. This will enable them, once they are in control of the government again, to launch even more draconian controls on the economy.
The complaints this time? Wages aren’t rising fast enough and jobs only expanded by 113,000 in July. The working people of America are being put through a wringer while the rich just keep getting richer. And, horror, the administration will try to take people’s minds off the economy for the November elections by dragging the country deeper into Middle East hostilities.
Maybe the writer has not noticed that the economy has cranked out 5.5 million payroll jobs since July 2003, boosting employment far above the five year ago level. Something Pittsburgh cannot claim. The op-ed writer might also want to look at the 2.4 million increase in the number of people working over the last year with 7.4 million more working than five years ago.
Moreover, how serious can the editorialist claim that people are dropping out of the job market out of despair when the there were nearly 700,000 more people in the labor force in July compared to June?
Meanwhile, the relatively slow increases in wages the writer complains about are easily understood if one takes a moment to reflect on factors affecting wages. First of all the massive increases in health care costs have forced employers to limit wage hikes in order to control the rise in total compensation costs. Second, the staggering numbers of illegal aliens that have entered the country in the last several years are clearly having a depressing effect on the wages of not only unskilled workers but they are also driving down wages in skilled occupations such as painters, dry wall installers, etc.
If one wants to do something useful to allow the market to push wages higher, they might want to get behind a program to slow the uncontrolled flow of aliens into the country. They might also want to support efforts to slow the growth in the cost of medical care including placing caps on punitive damage awards in malpractice cases.
It might also be pointed out that the absence of upward wage pressure allows interest rates to remain relatively low, especially long-term rates and mortgage rates. Both of which are very helpful to wage earners who are homebuyers and homeowners.
It would also be helpful if we could get liberals to allow more drilling in the US territories and allow some new refineries to be built. Otherwise the complaints about gasoline prices from these folks are a tactic to divert attention from their own culpability.
The real interest is in beating up the administration while enjoying the supposed moral high ground of opposing every meaningful reform that would actually solve some of the problems they are so concerned about. This will enable them, once they are in control of the government again, to launch even more draconian controls on the economy.
