By Kelly O'Connell ——Bio and Archives--September 18, 2011
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The Three Principles of Economic Justice: Like every system, economic justice involves input, output, and feedback for restoring harmony or balance between input and output. There are three essential and interdependent principles of Economic Justice: The Principle of Participation, The Principle of Distribution, and The Principle of Harmony. Like the legs of a three-legged stool, if any of these principles is weakened or missing, the system of economic justice will collapse.First, none of the three phrases listed has an inevitable connection to fair economics, so why are they chosen? Second, while the "3-legged stool" analogy is dramatic, certainly real fair economics is not built in the shape of a stool. The key is the need for Economic Justice advocates to demand wealth redistribution, or socialism, to take place. One writer explains how Economic Justice, aka Social Justice, really comes into being:
Many speaking the language of social justice really mean "economic justice." Unlike traditional practitioners of social justice, whose occasional noble interests ranged from abolition to prison reform to child-labor laws to the inherent dignity of the human person, many modern practitioners seek wealth redistribution, "living wages," progressive income taxes, & an ever-widening net of federal government power; they are inclined to class interests rather than human rights. And by their estimate, achieving economic justice requires collectivism. They invoke social justice to try to resolve not traditional social differences as much as class/income differences.Instead, what occurs is that non-market players, such as governments, set arbitrary wages for hourly labor based upon a purported "Living Wage." But do any politicians run on such ideas? In fact, Obama admits he is driven by such goals:
Barack Obama during a radio interview in 2001 said some rather troubling things. He posited that the civil rights movement, while successfully establishing social rights for all, did not pursue "economic justice" and "redistributive change." While said in the context of talking about the segregation movement, he was explicit in noting that the civil rights movement had not gone far enough in terms of providing equal rights for all. In his view racial integration was the first step towards equality in terms of providing racial equality, but true equality will only come with the economic equality of all, beyond the race issue.So Minimum Wage laws ARE legislated Economic Justice, aka socialist redistributive justice, plain and simple. But sadly, instead of helping the most at need, they hurt the poor's ability to find work. But this does not have to happen.
Several decades of studies find Minimum Wage laws reduce employment. Currently, a 10% increase in the Minimum Wage would decrease employment of low-skilled workers by 1-2%. Job losses for black U.S. teenagers have been found to be even greater. According to a 1978 article in American Economic Review, 90% of economists surveyed agreed that the Minimum Wage increases unemployment among low-skilled workers.
The voices clamoring for a Minimum Wage hike are getting ever louder. Proponents argue that the current wage level does not provide an adequate incentive for work. Also, they argue that an increase in the Minimum Wage will have only a very minor impact on jobs. These arguments are not grounded in fact. The impact of raising the Minimum Wage has been studied since its inception. All credible research has come to the same conclusion: raising the Minimum Wage hurts the poor. It takes away jobs, keeps people on welfare, and encourages high-school students to drop out. Policy makers should be clear on the consequence of higher minimum wages.The fact is, we can save cities like Detroit and other areas ravaged by bad policies if we are creative and bold in our ideas. And with the fate of the free world swinging in the balance, and no time to lose--what are we waiting for?!!
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Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico.