conservative playbook
  • Home
  • Opinions
  • News
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinions
  • News
  • Videos
  • Contact
Conservative Playbook
No Result
View All Result
Learn more about RevenueStripe...
Home Conservatism
A May Day lesson_ The real reason wages rise

A May Day lesson: The real reason wages rise

May 1 is a national holiday in many countries, where it is often known as International Laborers Day.

by FEE
May 1, 2021

The communist leaders of the thankfully extinct Soviet Empire loved May Day. The first day of the fifth month featured boisterous proclamations about “worker solidarity” and huge parades of military hardware in their capital cities. We were all supposed to be impressed or fearful, or both, I guess. I was neither because I assumed that their toys and their workers worked no better than their barren, low-wage, socialized economies.

Article by Lawrence W. Reed from FEE.

May Day is not to be confused with the well-known distress call, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! That was invented a hundred years ago by Stanley Mockford, a radio operator at a London airport. He was assigned to come up with a word that would be clearly and widely understood in the event of an emergency. It worked.

May 1 is a national holiday in many countries, where it is often known as International Laborers Day. In 1889, the Marxist Socialist International Congress chose this date to annually express its “solidarity” with workers (which is just about everybody, though that’s not what they meant).

So it is that May Day is associated with people who work—particularly those who work for wages. That makes today a good day for a refresher on wages and what makes them rise or fall. Few publications in FEE’s history more plainly fulfilled that charge than a 1957 essay by F. A. (“Baldy”) Harper titled “Why Wages Rise.” (Harper served on the FEE staff in the 1950s before founding the venerable Institute for Humane Studies.)

While I strongly recommend you read Harper’s classic (you can do so in an evening), I understand that some might prefer a condensed version. Toward that end, I offer the following summary, salted with Harper’s words as well as my own observations:

Wages can only be paid out of production

No production, no sales, no income, no wages. This puts both a ceiling and a floor under wages in a free and competitive labor market. Employers cannot pay workers more than the value of what they produce as evidenced by consumer purchases, and no employer will retain his workers if he pays less than what others find it profitable to offer them. Harper’s essay includes (on p. 18) a famous chart that illustrates how rising wages paralleled rising productivity over a fifty-year period in the last century.

Anything that hinders production will ultimately translate into lower wages

How can it be otherwise? The primary reason wages are low in underdeveloped countries is productivity. The average worker in Bangladesh labors hard and for long hours yet earns much less than his counterpart in Canada or in the United States or in Great Britain. The poorest Bangladeshi digs a foundation for a house with a mere shovel; a Canadian middle-class worker does it with heavy machinery in a fraction of the time.

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Capital investment per worker is the most powerful driver of wages in the long run

Think of capital as the backhoe that enables that Canadian worker to dig foundations so quickly and efficiently. The financing of such capital investments is made possible by people who save (and whose savings are then loaned to private enterprises). The richest, best-paying economies of the world are, not surprisingly, the ones where capital—its accumulation and deployment—is safe from confiscation through high taxation, over-regulation or nationalization.

Wages are the price of labor

As such, they are subject to what economists call the Law of Demand: At higher prices, less will be demanded while at lower prices, more will be demanded. If, for example, wages are mandated to rise by political edict, workers at the lower end of wage scales get hurt the most. You cannot make anyone worth a certain amount by making it illegal to pay him any less—a truth that minimum wage advocates choose to ignore.

Unions are not the reason for higher wages

It is true that unions can force wages up for some, but without increases in productivity and production, those higher wages for some produce lower wages (and fewer job opportunities) for others. Harper looked at the American economy in the 19th Century’s second half and concluded, “If unions were presumed to be the cause of rising wages, one would expect wages to have been at their lowest point—and to have remained at about the same low point—from 1855 to about 1900, when union membership was negligible. Fact: Wages rose appreciably over the period. They doubled within a man’s working lifetime.” Wage rates in general “show no clear response whatever” to changes in labor union membership. Indeed, about 94 percent of today’s private sector workers belong to no union at all yet they are among the best-paid workers in the world.

In Why Wages Rise, Harper includes a discussion of inflation. That may sound dated to readers now, but the Federal Reserve’s massive boost in America’s money and credit supply since January 2020 (nearly 30%) may soon make soaring prices a reality again. Harper offers insights about the effects of “the inflation tax” on wages that I hope the reader will want to explore for himself.

OurGoldGuy 3

There, in a nutshell, are some of the important points of F. A. Harper’s famous essay. You owe it to yourself on May Day, and every day, to know what makes the difference between wealth and poverty for the workers of the world.

For additional information, see:

  • Happy Capital Day! by Lawrence W. Reed
  • Comedy at the Bargaining Table by Sven Rydenfelt
  • Why Wages Used to be So Low by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
  • Henry Hazlitt on Unions by Charles W. Baird
  • Why Wages Rise by F. A. Harper



Most “Conservative” News Outlets Are on the Big Tech Teat

Not long ago, conservative media was not beholden to anyone. Today, most sites are stuck on the Big Tech gravy train.

I’ll keep this short. The rise of Pandemic Panic Theater, massive voter fraud, and other “taboo” topics have neutered a majority of conservative news sites. You’ll notice they are very careful about what topics they tackle. Sure, they’ll attack Critical Race Theory, Antifa, and the Biden-Harris regime, but you won’t see them going after George Soros, Bill Gates, the World Economic Forum, or the Deep State, among others.

The reason is simple. They are beholden to Big Tech, and Big Tech doesn’t allow certain topics to be discussed or they’ll cut you off. Far too many conservative news outlets rely on Google, Facebook, and Twitter for the bulk of their traffic. They depend on big checks from Google ads to keep the sites running. I don’t necessarily hold it against them. We all do what we need to do to survive. I just wish more would do like we have, which is to cut out Big Tech altogether.

We don’t get Google checks. We don’t have Facebook or Twitter buttons on our stories. We don’t have a YouTube Channel (banned), an Instagram profile (never made one), or a TikTok (no thanks, CCP). We’re not perfect, but we’re doing everything we can to not owe anything to anyone… other than our readers. We owe YOU the truth. We owe YOU the facts that others won’t reveal about topics that others won’t tackle. And we owe America, this great land that allows us to take hold of these opportunities.

Like I said, I don’t hold other conservative sites under too much scrutiny over their choices. It’s easy for people to point fingers when we’re not the ones paying their bills or supporting their families. I just wish there were more who would make the bold move. Today, only a handful of other major conservative news outlets have broken free from the Big Tech teat. Of course, we need help.

The best way you can help us grow and continue to bring proper news and opinions to the people is by donating. We appreciate everything, whether a dollar or $10,000. Anything brings us closer to a point of stability when we can hire writers, editors, and support staff to make the America First message louder. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal or Bitcoin as well. Bitcoin: 3A1ELVhGgrwrypwTJhPwnaTVGmuqyQrMB8

Our network is currently comprised of nine sites:

  • NOQ Report
  • Conservative Playlist
  • Truth. Based. Media.
  • Freedom First Network
  • Based Underground
  • Uncanceled News
  • American Conservative Movement
  • Conservative Playbook
  • Our Gold Guy

We are also building partnerships with great conservative sites like The Liberty Daily and The Epoch Times to advance the message as loudly as possible, and we’re always looking for others with which to partner.

Some of our content is spread across multiple sites. Other pieces of content are unique. We write most of what we post but we also draw from those willing to allow us to share their quality articles, videos, and podcasts. We collect the best content from fellow conservative sites that give us permission to republish them. We’re not ego-driven; I’d much rather post a properly attributed story written by experts like Dr. Joseph Mercola or Natural News than rewrite it like so many outlets like to do. We’re not here to take credit. We’re here to spread the truth.

While donations are the best way to help, you can also support us by buying through our sponsors:

  • MyPillow: Use promo code “NOQ” to get up to 66% off AND you’ll be helping a patriotic, America First company.
  • ZStack: Improve your immune system with the Z-Stack protocol or rejuvenate your body from vaccines or shedding with Z-DTox by Dr. Vladimir Zelenko.
  • OurGoldGuy: Tell them JD sent you in your request to buy gold and it will help us… AND (wait for it) you’ll be helping a patriotic, America First company.
  • MyPatriotSupply: Stock up on long-term food, survival gear, and other things that you’ll need just in case things don’t recover and we keep heading towards apocalypse.

We know we could make a lot more money if we sold out like so many “conservative” publications out there. You won’t find Google ads on our site for a reason. Yes, they’re lucrative, but I don’t like getting paid by minions of Satan (I don’t like Google very much if you couldn’t tell).

Time is short. As the world spirals towards The Great Reset, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report and the other sites in the network going. Our promise is this: We will never sell out America. If that means we’re going to struggle for a while or even indefinitely, so be it. Integrity first. Truth first. America first.

Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker

Bitcoin: 32SeW2Ajn86g4dATWtWreABhEkiqxsKUGn

MyPatriotSupply 4

All ORIGINAL content on this site is © 2021 NOQ Report. All REPUBLISHED content has received direct or implied permission for reproduction.

With that said, our content may be reproduced and distributed as long as it has a link to the original source and the author is credited prominently. We don’t mind you using our content as long as you help out by giving us credit with a prominent link. If you feel like giving us a tip for the content, we will not object!

JD Rucker – EIC
@jdrucker


 

Tags: EconomyFeaturedFEEMay DayTop Story
No Result
View All Result
Learn more about RevenueStripe...

My Show

The Midnight Sentinel

Our Sponsors

MyPillow Promo Code NOQ

MyPatriotSupply
Z-Stack Life
Our Gold Guy

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Copyright © 2021 NOQ Report.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Opinions
  • News
  • Videos
  • Contact

© 2020 NOQ Report

>