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| Neal and Clark's Minimum Wage Debate - Text |
Segment 2
Boortz: And were back more of the Information Overload Hour. It is kind of a special format at this time as we have Clark Howard, syndicated talk show host, consumer guru, and author of God knows how many books with us right now. He is telling us that he is in favor of increasing the minimum wage. Now he's going to tell us why he doesn't think there should be a minimum wage at all.
Clark: Isn't that the most hypocritical thing you've ever heard from me?
Boortz: No.
Clark: And you've known me for 20 years.
Boortz: But, no, that's not the most hypercritical thing I've heard from you. Usually that comes when you and I are drinking and you start talking about sex.
Clark: Neal! I can't believe that you just said that.
Boortz: I can't believe you said when we were in Austin ...
Clark: Neal! Neal! Belinda get him back on the topic! This is going to sound absolutely crazy you, but the reason the minimum wage should be increased is because of free trade and world trade which is so key to the economic health of the world. So many Americans feel so insecure Neal about what's going on in their own lives. There is the income disparity right now in the country where the wealthiest citizens have now not by anybody's fault, but that the wealthiest citizens in recent years have been taking a larger share of national income. It has caused a lot of resentment.
Boortz: Not really.
Clark: Which part is not really?
Boortz: They haven't they just been changing the way they report their income. Their share of the income is pretty much the same but more of it is being reported on individual tax returns now rather than corporate tax returns.
Clark: Regardless of why the stats are as they are, the public perception is just as clear as a bell that people feel that the rich people are running away with all the prizes.
Boortz: They are told that. They feel that because they keep being told that by the left.
Clark: But people believe it regardless of the reason why. And people feel the same way and hold a lot of anger about world trade. They feel that jobs that would go to Americans are instead going oversees.
Boortz: The jobs belong to the employers.
Clark: The jobs belong where they most efficiently can be done.
Boortz: Right.
Clark: Do you know right now there are referenda that have been held in state after state on minimum wage. The public is voted overwhelmingly for an increase in the minimum-wage. State after state has minimum wages much higher. Twenty-nine have minimum wages set much higher than the federal minimum wage. The reality is that the minimum-wage is an important symbolically at this point but now is a practical economic issue. Neal do you know what percent of Americans now earn the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour?
Boortz: What percent of full-time workers earn the minimum wage and nothing more?
Clark: lets you say full or part time. What percent of workers earn the minimum wage?
Boortz: Let's see ... I have to say about 1% of full-time workers ... no 1.2-percent full-time year-round workers earn the minimum wage.
Clark: If you count all workers, it's only 2-percent. The minimum wage at this point is nothing other than window dressing at the federal level because the states ran way past it. So what you get by my raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to seven whatever, is that you buy trust with the American people. And that is so important right now.
Boortz: Clark you are buying trust by defrauding them.
Clark: Why are you defrauding the American people?
Boortz: You are buying trust by telling them that it is appropriate for the government to set wages. You are setting a standard here where yes it is appropriate for the government to set wages. Then what happens is some Democrat or Republican comes along and says we need we need another change in the minimum-wage - that we need to raise the minimum wage another two dollars for everybody with a child and for every child you have after that you raise it another two dollars.
Clark: Neal – you and I have lost on this. The American people have voted with the ballot box in state after state after state. People overwhelmingly - Republicans, Democrats and in between overwhelmingly support the concept of the minimum wage.
Boortz: You can't give into the ignorance of the American people.
Clark: Neal there are far more important fish to fry here. There are far more important issues involved than the symbolism of people raising the minimum wage.
Boortz: Clark, I understand that. It is maybe economically symbolism, but it is important that we educate people of this country to the fact that the federal government has a very narrow limited scope of powers as set forth in our Constitution and setting wage rates is not there. It is just not the function of the federal government to set wage rates.
Clark: Neal, the states have agreed with you, and 29 states so far and counting. The states have said we believe there should be a minimum wage in our state and have set the minimum-wage higher and higher.
Boortz: That is easier for me to take than for the federal government to do it. That leaves businesses and people free to vote with their feet.
Clark: And that has happened. The states that have the highest minimum wages that have significantly higher unemployment than states which have not. So there is a direct job consequence to raising the minimum wage. But voters have still wanted to raise the minimum wage in spite of that. So from an economic standpoint you and I have basically no disagreement at all. But from a practical political standpoint you and I disagree completely.
Boortz: We can't allow practicality to override the Constitution of this country and instead of pandering to the economic ignorance that is been fostered in our government schools why can't we try to educate people.
Clark: And that is why you do every day on your show, and that is why the word Libertarian which nobody ever would've known in the trivia contest if it weren't for you is now a word that people in America know. You have been the principal public champion of Libertarianism in the United States and that has been your mission to spread the word to people that the amount of government we should have is the least amount of government that we can get by with. That basically is your philosophy, right?
Boortz: Yeah and that the role of the federal government is limited and clearly defined.
Clark: That is a long-term march. That is a longtime deal. In the short term there something then is that is more critical in my book and that is I am so worried about trade barriers and interference in the free market. I think populist politicians are going to want to do in the next few years and he know what happens when you have trade barriers and protectionism you cause the economy to go in the toilet.
Boortz: Thanks to our generations of government education, we have people in this country who are functionally illiterate when it comes to understanding of the workings of a free enterprise economy or economics in general. We had Exxon Mobil today announced a $39 billion profit for 2006 and Clark, you know by the end of the day were to have demagogues in Congress calling for a windfall profits tax. But you can't find five people on the street who could tell you what the Exxon Mobil profit margin is or could even tell you the difference between a profit in a profit margin. We need to start educating people about these things not caving in to simple populist demands or increases in the minimum-wage.
Clark: Neal, when people get angry about the profits and an oil company or anybody else the question I always ask them is, "if he were in business for yourself, what you purposely set out in your business to see if you could run it in a way that you lost money or didn't make any?" And they look at me like I lost my mind. The point I'm trying to make to them is that when you're in business the marketplace sets the price for the product you provide or service you provide, and if you are able to run your business and efficient way and make a profit that's what you're supposed to do when a capitalist system. To say that oil companies are evil when they make a lot of money - nobody says anything about when oil prices or where they're lower - let's say the margins are crashed and oil companies don't report good profits nobody talks about that.
Boortz: No, not a thing about that.
Clark: I do have some very specific things to share with you straight ahead about and why you should hear me out on this thing of why a minimum wage while economically is not a good idea, politically and ultimately economically it is.
Boortz: I still think you're pandering to the economic ignorance of America.
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