George Will: Minimum Wage Is An Affront To Capitalism

George Will is a conservative columnist for the Washington Post. I read his latest column today in Murdoch's NY Post, where it is often reprinted. Today Mr. Will takes on a great evil... the Democrats' pledge to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15/hr to $7.25/hr.

Will dismisses this as a "bad idea whose time has come" and says the Democrats are suffering from FDR nostalgia (and what a horrible era to emulate it must seem to Reagan conservatives like Mr. Will). He goes on to describe the increase an as an all-out assault on American capitalism.

Seemingly arguing that America's ideal economy should be a complete free market with no government regulation or oversight, he states "the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices." Let that one sink for a moment.

This type of conservative naivete, and I'm being polite there given that he dismisses human beings as a 'commodity', seems to believe that corporations would treat workers fairly if they didn't have to, and that they would, in fact, treat them so much nicer than they do now if only that mean federal government wasn't bossing them around. What a wonderful fantasy land that must be to live in.

Perhaps someone should remind them that New Deal-era labor/economic regulations (like a minimum wage, unions, child labor laws, the 40-hour work week, etc) were enacted after the Great Depression in response to the collapse of an unregulated free market system that saw deplorable working conditions, low wages, child labor, and no job or savings security for many Americans. And more.

It would seem that arch-conservatives like Mr. Will are nostalgic for that type of Dickensian way of life... as long as he continues to be handsomely paid for the dribble he writes, natch.

Will says at one point, "Democrats consider the minimum-wage increase a signature issue. So, consider what it says about them". I do, it says good things. Consider what it says about a well-paid conservative pundit like Mr. Will that he considers even having wage regulations to be unamerican. It doesn't say good things.