MEXICO’S PRESIDENT-ELECT, a leftist who’s best known by his initials AMLO, takes office in December, but he’s been talking a lot since winning the presidency by a landslide in July.
Leftists are known for their big talk. Just within the last week, he’s promised “free” healthcare like the Canucks and much of Europe have, he says. We have our own Latino Bernie Sanders.
AMLO also has promised to greatly reduce or eliminate federal inspections; for instance, checking to see if gas stations are stiffing the customers. It’s better to just “trust the people” to do the right thing, i.e. gas station owners.
Instead of making presidential decisions, which was what he was elected to do, he talks a lot about “letting the people decide,” i.e. plebiscites on all manner of issues, a very costly method of decision-making, of course.
It’s also an easy out if things go sour. Wasn’t my doing. The people decided!
He’s also vowed to clamp down on a federal consumer protection agency known as PROFECO. It’s hard to grasp his thought processes on that one.
He’s real big on “trusting the people.” He’s promising to raise the minimum wage too, of course. A couple of our relatives here on the mountaintop run a humble hotel, and they were big AMLO supporters. However, their enthusiasm has waned on learning they may have to pay their few employees higher salaries.
Oh, dear.
Is a high minimum wage a good thing? Everyone likes a fatter paycheck.
In the United States, the Democrat Party pushes a higher minimum wage, and the Republicans usually oppose it, making them look like the black hats. But who are really the black hats? Who is right, Democrats or Republicans?
For an excellent, easy-to-read take on raising the minimum wage, its unforeseen consequences, and lots of other economic issues, I highly recommend Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.
One of Hazlitt’s primary points is that when government mandates something, downstream effects should be investigated, not just the immediate result. This isn’t done as often as it should be, certainly not with minimum-wage hikes.
Now let’s turn to the video, which was made in the seething leftist hotbed of Seattle. How are “liberal” business owners reacting to the idea of a $15 minimum wage? Not too well, it seems, and that pastes a grin on my face.
The Social Justice Warriors in front of them walked around to their rears, morphed into Poetic Justice and bit ’em in their arses!