Why the Poor Need a Fair Wage, Not a Fair Share

Statistics can be misleading. And when it comes to the poor, statistics aren’t just misleading—they can be manipulative. You’ve probably heard a good bit about the poor getting a fair share of the wealth, as if wealth is a pie and everyone deserves the same size piece. You’ll hear how the rich need to pay their fair share of taxes, too.

I agree the rich need to pay their fair share of taxes. It would be fair if their share was the same as everyone else’s. It’s not. And I guess in one sense, I’m okay with the poor getting their fair share of the wealth too. But a fair share of the wealth may not be the same share.

And I’m not being heartless here. I think the statistics from the Fraser Institute of Economic Freedom should (but won’t) give pause to liberals and big-government heart-bleeders everywhere. For one, last year’s report on economic freedom again confirmed that the poorest 10% get the best wages in those countries that are most free. That doesn’t always mean they get the best share of the wealth though.

Interestingly, in the most heavily regulated economies, the poorest 10% got nearly the same percentage of the overall wealth that they would have gotten in the least regulated economies. Do you understand what that means? It’s actually rather fascinating. The civil government can force distribution of wealth, but this forced distribution reduces economic freedom. When you reduce economic freedom, you reduce wealth. When you reduce wealth, the redistirbution of wealth yields poorer results—their isn’t as much to go around.

In other words, even if the poorest 10% in the least free countries had a much higher percentage of the overall wealth, they would still be worse off than they would be in countries where they weren’t getting their fair share.

Another interesting note from the Report was the fact that the economic freedom of the United States in the chain-linked study started to decrease in the year 2000. It’s gotten worse since then—much worse (we’re not even in the top 10 most economically free countries anymore), but it started to plunge while Bush was still in office. What precipitated the plunge? The recession.

It’s so stupid. The recession should have resulted in a greater loosening of regulations. But our control-freak civil government thought it could spend our way out of this, and it needed our money to do it. So it took it. And the economy started tanking even worse. So it took more. Et cetera. Et cetera. And the thing our government was doing to help the economy was actually the cause of its continued stagnation. When will these people figure it out?

8 responses

  1. Poor people do deserve a decent wage, but not what many of them are demanding. We’ve all worked for minimum wage at one time or another, and most of us graduated from school and were working in offices, not fast food places. The poor in this country have a lot of programs available to them to train them in all kinds of fields, and to help them with food, clothing and financial assistance. Nevertheless, being poor does not give anyone the right to lay claim to anyone else’s money or property. That to me is not equality, it’s theft.

  2. This idea that there are entry level jobs like the fast food industry is nonsense. All work deserves to be respected and rewarded and I find it disgusting that the biggest whiners are those that produce nothing while demanding everything.

    • All work does deserve to be rewarded and respected, if the same is given by the employee first. Work ethic and pride must come before reward and respect. It must be earned, and that is why low wage and low skilled jobs are entry level. To mold yourself into learning what it means to earn your way, to work hard and move up in life. Not have things handed to you, and not demanding to be paid more than you are really worth.

  3. I was born and raised in one of the poor sections of Detroit. Poor is a government mindset that is used to keep people in one economic level. If the government didnt have the poor to parade out during elections we would see the poor raise up on their own. When one only needs to extend ones hand and it is filled they will go no further. If I made it anyone can for I am no genius but I knew both my parents who wouldn’t let me sit and wait for someone to give me a dollar. At graduation I got a handshake and a copy of the want adds. Your worth is only what you make it not what government says it is.
    Grampa

  4. Is taking away what is mine and giving it to someone who has done absolutely nothing to earn or deserve it, “fair”? Fair is keeping what you earn and being allowed to use it (legally) as you see fit. 17 trillion dollars of national debt and who has benefited? Only the millions of deadbeats on welfare programs … that’s who.

  5. Exchanging the fates is the place the new cash is at the best site I’ve discovered so far is a spot called Traders Superstore Google them and you ought to have the capacity to discover them. I have each of the four of their courses and now exchanging for myself. The fates is the place all the movement is presently and I never knew the amount cash there is to make in exchanging the prospects as of not long ago.

  6. After spending the day clearing property, I paid my help for his day at work… good man… works a Saturday after a full time job for his family ( try to even imagine a liberal taking care of their own family). When my 6 year old grand daughter saw that, she gathered a few sticks in a pile… then, she wanted her “pay” for her clearing effort. It was cute, but created a teaching moment.
    And that is how communism works… upon futher reflection, it demonstrates just how child-like the liberal thinking is. My 6 year old understands now… but the world is full of 6 year old minds.

  7. “When will these people figure it out?” NEVER, they still believe the fairy tale that their Liberal Hero FDR saved us from the Great Depression. Most economic experts now agree that he made it much worse and prolonged it for years. I do give FDR credit for his leadership in our efforts to defeat Germany and Japan in WWII, but his economic policies sucked. “These people” will continue to follow the same FDR style policies, because they are simply delusional when it comes to the realities of how economies work.

Leave a Reply