Murray Rothbard Quotes
Remember that the minimum wage law provides no jobs; it only outlaws them; and outlawed jobs are the inevitable result.
Rothbard, Murray N. Making Economic Sense. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1995, p. 136.
Uchitelle in writing about one of the nation’s economic recessions thought that it should be an interesting slant to do an article about Harvard alumni who had been laid off to show that education and training were not sufficient to have job security. Lelyveld, one of the greatest newspaper editors in the history of American journalism had also been a Harvard graduate.
This is the classic conservative argument against raising the minimum wage. Historically, if the minimum wage was raised well after there has been a period of wage inflation, there has been little or no negative effect on the lowest paid workers. However, when the minimum wage has been raised during a period of wage stability, there is an effect of making some workers simply not worth the rate that they must be paid. However, even then, after a year or two, the negative effect begins to dissipate.
This is the major argument always given against raising the minimum wage. Historically, however, when the minimum wage has been increased there has never been a large increase in the unemployment rate. However, if the increase would be huge it would likely have the effect of pricing some workers out of the market. Like so many other elements of politics, moderation is important.
At the time there was great demand for skilled computer programmers and other technical skills. But there was insufficient demand for many of the skills that the American Workforce such as airplane mechanics, or TV Camera people for example.
The nation was divided over the issue of immigration. Many observed that the vast majority of the immigrants—especially the illegal immigrants performed jobs for which American workers could not be hired. Opponents like the congressman, claimed that if better wages were paid Americans would be doing the jobs, and as long as there were immigrants who would work for low wages, there was little reason for employers to pay more.
The mayor was explaining why he established a high-speed, municipal broadband wireless Internet connectivity in a town of only 6 thousand people. There had been none because the private sector didn’t think that they could make money in Scottsburg. A few companies were thinking of moving to a place where they could get modern technological communications tools.
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American heterodox economist of the Austrian School, economic historian and political theorist. Rothbard was the founder and leading theoretician of anarcho-capitalism, a staunch advocate of historical revisionism and a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian movement. He wrote over twenty books on political theory, revisionist history, economics, and other subjects.
