Silly Little Country

The Star's Morality

The Toronto Star today insists on a $10 minimum wage in Ontario, up from the current government's plan to raise it to $8. Personally I find even the existing number an unhelpful constraint on the ability of employers and employees to come to an accomodation beneficial to both.

Now pretty well all the arguments they offer minimizing the manifest damage such a raise of the minimum wage would do to exactly those they think are benefiting were already dealt with in a recent post from EclectEcon. In fact his comments directly refute some of the sillier things they say, like

Fast-food restaurants that do not have the staff to provide their customers with "fast" food won't stay in business very long.

They are determined NOT to see what is not immediately seen.

The line I found funniest, and equally fatuous was

Hotels are not going to satisfy their guests by cutting back on staff and providing dirty rooms.

Does the editorial staff or their presumed experts in economics travel and stay in hotels?

In fact hotels have been brilliant at something not even so subtle as capital-labour substitution (though that has been going and would be accelerated by rising labour costs - e.g. express checkouts, express checkins, bill reviews on the TV in your room - and note all of these throw work back on the customer, who actually also likes it in general). But as for the dirty room? and customer satisfaction! In the last many years every hotel chain I stay in now 'offers' me the option not to have my towels and sheets cleaned every night! And they sell it to me as a way to be an environmentalist, not wasting water and energy. Of course, the hotel also at the same time does not have to waste money on their laundry subcontractors, so many low-paid laundry workers can be tossed out of jobs. And I as the customer am profoundly satisfied as I feel I am now an environmentalist.

Really! Do people even think before they write these editorials? I don't expect better of the NDP but for this paper, supposedly a Liberal newspaper, to do anything as stupid as this, just amazes me. What education do these guys get?

posted by Alan Adamson @ 1:58 PM