You are Worthless

Painting: Labor by Charles Sprague Pearce

While wandering the electronic halls of the internet I came across this fairly interesting argument, laid out in part here:

Example 1: Gains on Capital

            Joe places $100,000 in a certificate of deposit earning 6% per annum. Joe gave up his $100,000 for a year and at the end of the year he received $106,000 of which only $6,000 would be income as defined by the act. Joe still has his original $100,000 and can 'rent' it out again for another year, but he pays taxes only on the $6,000 gain.

Example 2: Gains on Sales

            Tom buys a widget for $1 and sells it for $2. Tom gave up $1 in order to receive $2, but only the additional $1 is considered income. Tom still has his dollar back and can purchase another widget to sell, but he pays taxes only on the $1 gain

Example 3: Gains on Labor

            Bob pays Bill $50 to unplug Mrs. Haversham's drain for which Bob charges Mrs. Haversham $75. Bob gave up $50 in order to receive $75, but only $25 is considered income, his realized gain of $25 on Bill's labor. Bob still has his original $50 that he can use to purchase more labor that he can sell for profit, but he pays taxes only on the $25 gain. 

But what about Bill's $50?  What has Bill given up? Nothing?  Bill gave up a day out of his life, he expended his effort and skill, employed the use of his working tools. Bill no longer has his day or his labor, both are spent. He cannot, even with every penny of his $50, buy another day or recover the effort he expended, yet according to the government, his $50, every bit of it, is profit, gain, accession to wealth and was received in exchange for nothing.

Joe recovered his $100,000, and paid no tax on it; Tom recovered his $1 and paid no tax on it; Bob recovered his $50 and paid no tax on it; but Bill can never recover his day, energy or labor, but pays tax on his gross revenue, including the value of his day, energy and labor and even if the value of that day, energy and labor exceeds the gross revenue!  

Read the entire article here: What is Income?

The government assigns a value of 0 to your time and labor by declaring that the entirety of your compensation is profit, in other words; You are Worthless! And you have got something (profit) in exchange for nothing (time/exertion/skill).

Minimum Wage

There were 127,000 fewer working-age natives holding a job in the first quarter of 2014 than in 2000, while the number of immigrants with a job was 5.7 million above the 2000 level.

Because the native-born population grew significantly, but the number working actually fell, there were 17 million more working-age natives not working in the first quarter of 2014 than in 2000.

National Review

The Wages of Progressive Sin

You want wages to go up?

Stop importing labor... or allowing it to cross the border unimpeded

Progressives chasing their tails

The Massachusetts House passed a bill that will raise the state’s minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2017. The Senate already passed that wage level, and after a procedural vote there it will head to Gov. Deval Patrick (D), who is expected to sign it into law. 

 

The simple truth of it is that this cost is simply going to be passed along to consumers of goods and services, and offset by cutting employees.  The cost of living is going to go up and the value of a dollar is going to go down, those who are going to shoulder the greatest burden are the poor, whose purchases of goods and services represent a greater portion of their income than the middle class and wealthy.  The income gap will grow simply because this action won't lift people out of poverty, it will have the opposite effect as prices increase to offset decreasing profit margins.  In the end the wealthy will be wealthier and the poor poorer, do you think that those now making $12 will see a raise anytime soon?

 

What will their answer be?  To pass another wage increase.

 

The CBO examined the budget impacts of raising the minimum wage to $9 and $10.10. The report concluded that a $9 increase would lift 300,000 workers above the poverty line, but cost 100,000 new jobs as employers are expected to reduce workforces to make up for higher wages. A $10.10 increase would lift 900,000 workers above the poverty line, but cost 500,000 jobs.