The hidden history of the minimum wage in America

Mark J. Perry is concurrently a scholar at AEI and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan's Flint campus. He is best known as the creator and editor of the popular economics blog Carpe Diem. At AEI, Perry writes about economic and financial issues for American.com and the AEIdeas blog.

Don [George Mason University economics professor Don Boudreaux] has emphasized a very important, but usually overlooked or neglected reason that some empirical studies fail to find negative employment effects following increases in the minimum wage government-mandated wage floor that guarantees reduced employment opportunities for America’s teenagers and low-skilled workers (especially minorities). That reason has to do with the fact that the minimum wage has been in effect for almost 80 years since the Fair Unfair to Unskilled Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938, and it’s been increased 27 times since then. Therefore, the government’s mandated market-suppressing, artificial wage for low- and un-skilled workers has been around for such a long time, and it’s been raised so many times, that the distortionary effects of the minimum wage have long ago been “internalized” by employers who hire unskilled workers.

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George Will: "Rent control is unconstitutional because it is an egregious and uncompensated physical occupation of property."

From CARPE DIEM

Buffett Rule debunked: "Super-Rich" Pay Avg. Tax Rates 2-3X Higher Than a Secretary!

WOW!
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2011/09/buffett-rule-is-based-on-anecdotal.html

We now have a proposal for a tax policy - the "Buffett Rule" - based on Warren Buffett's anecdotal "evidence" of his and his employees' tax burdens.  But that "evidence" seems pretty far-fetched and not consistent with: a) average federal income tax rates available from the IRS, nor b) average tax rates for all federal taxes paid, from the CBO.  Buffett's anecdote has to be an outlier or exception, because under the current federal tax system, the average "super-rich" taxpayer pays taxes at a rate 2-3 times the average secretary.  Instead of raising tax rates, we should probably figure out what kind of loopholes allow Warren Buffet to pay taxes of only 17.4% on his $40 million income last year.   

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2011/09/buffett-rule-is-based-on-anecdotal.html
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Perry is currently on sabbatical from the University of Michigan and is a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

Economics professor on Republican Congressman Paul Ryan's budget for America

This budget provides parents with hope that their children can inherit a strong, free and prosperous America. It is a plan to give our children a debt-free nation so they too can realize the American Dream.

Paul Ryan's Plan for a Debt-Free Nation

Truth: economic freedom will add 20 years to your lifespan!

CARPE DIEM: Economic Freedom = 20 Years of Life Expectancy

Cash for Clunkers: Dumbest Program Ever?

From http://www.cato-at-liberty.org with a hat tip to Carpe Diem:

As the Cash for Clunkers program begins to wind down, I nominate it as the dumbest government program ever. Here is what the program will have accomplished: