Galt's Gulch

Milton Friedman debunks Equal Opportunity Laws

Posted by $ blarman 10 years ago to Economics
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Listen to the whole argument, then post your agreement or disagreement.
SOURCE URL: http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/04/18/milton-friedman-demolishes-obamas-equal-pay-argument/

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  • Posted by $ Maphesdus 10 years ago
    Hmmm, interesting. Milton Friedman makes a good argument. However, one thing I noticed was that he claimed that apartheid in South Africa originally started with the trade unions demanding equal pay for equal work. Now I haven't read the book he cited to support this claim ("The Economics of the Colour Bar," by William H. Hutt), but I did read the two other articles which can be reached by clicking on the last link in this article:

    2 essential books on government-imposed discrimination by South African socialists:
    http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2013/12/09/...

    Nelson Mandela’s Battle Against Socialism, Unionism, and Interventionism:
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/12/thoma...

    Based on those two articles, it does appear to be an indisputable fact that racial segregation and apartheid were indeed advocated by the South African labor unions. But I can't see any evidence to back up the claim that these unions advocated equal pay for equal work. Quite the opposite, it seems the unions were doing everything they could to ensure blacks did NOT have equal access, or even any access at all. I dunno, maybe this evidence is provided in the book itself, but I'm highly skeptical of the claim that the racist South African unions actually supported the policy of equal pay for equal work. I'll have to do more research on this topic to be sure.
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    • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years ago
      We do have direct evidence of the unions racist activities here in the US. The federal area wage determination regulations imposed on the bidding of federal contracts was directly aimed at making sure that cheap "Negro" labor from the south would not be brought in to the north to work on highway construction projects. This was brought forth by the union bosses so that union labor would still be used on projects. We still live with these racist regulations today which unnecessarily inflate the cost of federal construction and service projects.
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      • Posted by SRS66East 10 years ago
        I have made the argument before that all Laws should have a mandatory sunset clause. If it is a good workable law it will be renewed, if it isn't it will be relegated to history.
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      • Posted by $ blarman 10 years ago
        In the United States, it is called Davis-Bacon. It's a Federal law from the 1930's which applies to any and all Federally-funded or partially Fed-funded road projects that sets a minimum wage for anyone on the project (I think it's $35/hr). It's one of the main reasons why road maintenance is so expensive. I used to work for a transportation company that contracted out in the summers to haul gravel and road mix for these projects, and our bids had to include labor costs that were >double what we would normally pay for hourly driving.

        Anyway, the history of law is just exactly that: the white unions didn't like the cheaper black labor that was undercutting them on road construction projects, so they got a bill passed that mandated a minimum wage - which effectively put the less-connected black businesses out of business. What's even worse is that this law and all its baggage is still on the books today.
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        • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years ago
          Thanks...I knew the name of the Davis-Bacon act but couldn't recall it. It doesn't mandate a particular wage but rather requires a "Federal wage determination" for the area where the work will be done. There is a federal website where you go and put in the job classification and you look up the wage. The wages you tend to find are usually about 20 to 25% higher than what you would normally pay in a given county and the wages are based on wage surveys the respondents of which are disproportionately large corporations and government...[which are disproportionately union] the wages typically include a benefit load which further inflates things. What this means is that in a heavily union part of the country you could end up paying almost double the wage you could get away with otherwise. Before any liberal starts pissing and moaning about oppressing the worker class, stop and think....this money doesn't come out of thin air, it comes from THE OPRESSED TAXPAYER, who also has starving kids!
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      • Posted by $ Maphesdus 10 years ago
        Right, but I was talking specifically about the actions of the labor unions in South Africa, not the actions of the labor unions here in the United States.
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        • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years ago
          You are correct you did. I was not taking issue with that at all. I think there is one thing in the discussion here that we have to be cognizant of...that is that the "Unions" we are referring to in South Africa are not likely to be a homogeneous entity. There are likely White unions who are working to keep the blacks down and black unions that are trying to get equal pay and at some point even get their foot on the neck of the whites. By the way, before anyone takes exception to the idea of any one group trying to keep another group down....bear in mind the white population there is in a decided minority and no doubt sees itself surrounded by enemies. [which they absolutely are] The blacks see themselves as invaded and trying to overcome that invasion. [which they absolutely were]
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