I was quite proud of my 12 year-old recently. She bought her own iPad with money she had saved from babysitting her younger sisters (a joint-effort with her 13 year-old sister) on the nights that I have class. It reminded me of my first job working at the gun range where my dad shot skeet & trap. I earned about $55/week, paid the same way; in cash. I would do simple stuff, like load targets, ‘pull’ for shooters, maintain the grounds, etc. At its core, the minimum wage is a coercive extraction of resources from one party to be given to another.
Tag: business
Why Paleoconservatives Are Wrong About Immigration
I don’t see how you can oppose free immigration without at least indirectly supporting the existence of a coercive state. I’ve read what (paleo) Rothbard and Hoppe have to say about it, but their argument (essentially, if all land were privately owned, “immigration” would require permission from the landowners) ignores several important facts.
The Leftist Apparitions Who Shook Down Scrooge for Money
Who knows what housing, stores, railways or other benefits to society Scrooge had made possible through his wise judgment? How many thousands of jobs had he created? Dickens is unjustly silent on this. Whatever Scrooge had financed, we know it was something the public wanted or needed enough to pay for voluntarily. Thanks to Scrooge, however crusty his demeanor, the common people of London were far richer than they otherwise would have been without his services.
The Preposterous Belief That “Wage Slavery” Has Anything to Do with Slavery
This “wage slavery” argument is very convincing. It is potent because all human beings already accept that every one of us is, indeed, compelled to work (in one sense of the word) until one has enough wealth. The “thing” that compels people to work, is reality. No one, not even the richest man, can escape the fact that, if one just consumes and consumes resources without doing anything productive, one will eventually starve and die. This circumstance of reality applies to everyone.
Your Boss Doesn’t Have Authority over You; He’s Your Trading Partner
The employer-employee relationship doesn’t involve authority because it is an ongoing, voluntary trade of labor for goods (typically money) or occasionally services. There is often confusion on this issue because it might appear that when a “boss” tells his employee what to do, he is exercising authority over that employee.
5 Ways To Think Like a State
Do you notice a pattern when dealing with any aspect of the government at nearly any level? We all have. Experience shows that if something is going to go really wrong, predictably waste your time, annoy you and attack your dignity, and finally just prove to be totally ineffective at accomplishing the task, there’s a good chance that it involves the government. This is one of the most persistent and yet least acknowledged features of modern life.
Why Markets Produce “a Race to the Top”
Many Americans trust the market to some extent but worry that capitalism will create a race to the bottom without government intervention. In their mind, companies will cut corners and outsource labor in the pursuit of profit, creating shoddier and shoddier products. The true free market, however, creates exactly the opposite: a race to the top. And the SEO industry, one of the few completely non-regulated industries in the US, proves it. As a professional SEO, I’ve seen first-hand how it continues to evolve in prosocial ways without government intervention.
The Importance Of Failure
Many people complain that they cannot do a particular task because they have failed at it. This is not a reason to stop trying. In fact it is a reason to pursue it evermore vigorously. With every failure one is that much step closer to success and little wiser as a result.
Finding Your Tribe Of Confidantes
It is not about how many friends you have. It is about the meaning and depth of those friendships. A small handful of genuinely caring friends who would come to your aid in your time of need is more valuable than the most precious rubies and gems. No man is an island unto himself.
Malthusian Misery versus Abundance
Much of our political debate can be described as a battle between two competing ideas. Must my gain always come at your expense, or is it possible for both of us to benefit from the same voluntary exchange?