Why Is a Federal Minimum Wage a Problem and a Maximum Income Okay?

For some reason it has become accepted wisdom that raising wages loses jobs. And yet cheering on uncontrolled income is a job-producing fulfillment of the American dream.

Reminds me of my favorite nonsense-rhyme

If an asp in the grass is a snake

Then why is a grasp in the ass a goose?

It occurs to me, and give me hell if I’m wrong, that both statements are equally ignorant of the facts and yet they persist because the wealthy are in charge of the sound system.

Crank up the amplifiers, baby

Repetition is an amplifier, as is an enormous audience and the money to put the Big Band on stage. Let me offer an example: I remember a time not all that long ago when the accepted wisdom was that if gasoline ever hit $2 a gallon the American economy would lay in ruins. Wow. In ruins. The economy of the most powerful nation in the world hung on the delicate balance of $2 a gallon at the pump. Chaos would ensue. Last Memorial Day prices hit $4.03 in California and over three and a half bucks in most oth…