Paul and the SORE (So-Called Orafice of Republican pseudo-Economic-hacks) at CafeHayek disagree with (gulp!) 655 economists including Nobel Laureates who believe the federal minimum wage should be raised modestly, stating it won't have the negative effect that economic experts like Paul believe will occur.
This adds to the right-wing disagreement with generals who believe our strategy in Iraq is wrong. This in addition to those who disagree with human rights advocates and the British government who accuse the US of torture in Guantanamo. They also disagree with business leaders who say a single-payer healthcare system would help businesses cut healthcare costs and increase profits. Or scientists who believe global warming is a problem.
Right-wingers disagree with any experts who don't trumpet their political views. How can these "true believers", those who believe in their ideology no matter the evidence to the contrary, continue to refute the word of people who have studied these subjects much longer and harder than they?
Remember, Paul's most noted economic decision was to paint his living room pink because by purchasing a color that no one else would possibly want, he saved 10% in costs! Surely he is more qualified than five Nobel Prize winning economists! Not to mention the interior designers who would caution against such a gutsy metrosexual move.
2006-10-13
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7 comments:
Business leaders and economists who believe that socialized healthcare will help business should certainly vote democrat! Do these people beleve that the US would get in return anything better than what Canadians and Europeans have? This will be especially interesting when those nations with socialized medicine no longer have the US capitalist medical machinery funding their foolishness. Perhaps a good medical lesson is in order.
The same for minimum wage. Let it pass, then watch the results. If raising it just a little bit is good -- as these hundreds of economists believe -- then why not raise it even more, for even more benefit? Why not raise it to $25/hour? Why not make it illegal to fire employees? Why not require all employers to provide full medical benefits?
And while we're discussing this, when are you going to answer my questions about how you pay your band members, and how clubs pay you. Why don't you demand a law that requires club owners who hire bands to pay each band member a minimum of $250? Plus a month's worth of full medical insurance?
OK, I'm starting to understand your general view here. The right wingers violate the experts in many areas, including the following:
1. Socialized national medicine, which you support and claim that the experts support.
2. Every aspect of the Iraq war.
3. Evolution.
4. Global warming.
5. Minimum wages.
I can agree with you only on the Iraq war and evolution. In all the other areas plenty of experts agree with Bush. Certainly there is no universal agreement amoung business owners, CEOs, and economists in favor of higher minimum wages (or even having a minimum wage) or nationalized health care. Do these people also believe that cuting tax rates will case a reduction in tax revenue?
The coldest October ever recorded, and one of the mildest hurricane seasons, reminds me that many scientists are unconvinced by claims that human behavior has created a significant global warming phenomenon.
The concept of global warming has more to do with changing global weather patterns. It won't always manifest in just higher temperatures. It will manifest in extremes. Therefore a cold October and a mild hurricane seasong (both extremes) fit the bill.
Think of the weather patterns as pendullum-like swings, and that is more the idea.
Nadir: I don't think that you grasp the global warming hypothesis. It does mandate lower average temperatures, not swings in temperatures. Advocates of this hypothesis say that higher temperatures cause more extreme weather patterns, including hurricannes. They do not predict colder winters combined with hotter summers. This past summer did not break the average summer temperature record of the past 40 years.
This issue has many complicated facets, and the hypothesis involves three claims:
1. The average temerature is increasing.
2. It is increasing significantly.
3. Human activity has significantly contributed to the average increase.
Claim 2 above mandates several predictions:
- High average temperatures compared with temperatures recorded in earlier years.
- More hurricanes.
- Melting glaciers.
One problem with examining this hypothesis is that independant of human activity, the earth experiances a back and forth swing of average temperatures. Also, hurricane activity fluctuates in a similar fashion, independant of the swing in average temperatures (temperature does influence hurricanes, but so do other factors). The extra-annual wobble of the earth and sun spot activity all affect the extra-annual, extra-humann fluctuations in earth temperature and hurricane activity.
Thus Claim 3 above is especially difficult to evaluate, even if you demonstrate Claims 1 and 2.
And your dad selected my conservatory color.
Higher average temperatures will result in extreme weather patterns including strange winters as the Earth's climage adjusts. Because weather patterns on one side of the globe can affect the weather on the opposite side, with various shifts of wind and tide contributing, the primary effect will be that things will get freaky.
I agree that the Earth itself experiences climate shifts every few hundred thousand years, and we are due for a shift. Human activity, however is exacerbating natural climatic changes.
According to the Christians and the Mayans, it will all be over soon anyway, so climate change is an urgent, but long term problem that may be remedied for us by a new ice age or armageddon.
The minimum wage is a more important issue because quality of life for all people is an immediate issue.
Nadir: Please address my questions about minimum wages. If raising a little bit is good, why not raise it a lot? Why not apply it to musical bands?
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