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control. Our helplessness dissolves when we stop blaming others for feelings we
create. In our outer world, the same rules apply. Today, as a society, as a
nation, as a collective consciousness, "we" once again feel helpless, blaming
selfish others for the world's woes.
We seek control to create peace and prosperity, not realizing that this is the
very means by which war and poverty are propagated. In fighting for our dream
without awareness, we become the instruments of its destruction. ... If we could
only see the pattern! In seeking to control others, we behave as we once did as
children, exchanging our dime for five pennies, all the while believing that we
were enriching ourselves.
Where did we get all this wealth? The earth certainly did not get an additional
endowment of natural resources between ancient times and the present. Instead, we
discovered new ways to use existing resources. ... The new wealth allows creation
of still greater wealth. For example, the energy trapped in fossil fuels lets us
create new metal alloys that require higher smelting temperatures than wood can
provide. One idea leads to the next. ... We see that specific ideas on better uses
for existing resources and the replication of these ideas are the real source of
wealth.
If we support minimum wage laws, we destroy jobs, especially those that would have
gone to the unskilled or disadvantaged. By using aggression, we limit wealth by
destroying the jobs that create it.
When we use aggression to control the marketplace ecosystem with minimum wage laws
or other mandated "benefits," we set in motion a destructive chain reaction.
Instead of providing the disadvantaged with a better financial base, we prevent
them from obtaining what they need most: on-the-job training in the art of
creating wealth. Because they cannot work, they cannot get ahead. They cannot
entice a reluctant or prejudiced employer into giving them an opportunity to show
their worth when they cannot offer such employers a better deal.
XOmniverse
If minimum wage laws so obviously hurt those they were intended to help, why do
our legislatures keep passing them? Do minimum wage laws benefit someone else with
power and influence? Of course they do!
When our choice is between winning and losing, aggression appears to be a useful
tool. We don't notice that our aggression is limiting wealth and jobs because we
take these limitations as a given. Our beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies.
... For this reason, the gains that the skilled worker makes when minimum wage
laws disenfranchise the disadvantaged are largely an illusion.
Wealth is only the smallest part of the price we pay, however. We've encouraged
the disadvantaged to think of their plight as someone else's fault rather than a
condition best rectified by their own efforts. By supporting minimum wage laws,
we've taught the disadvantaged to turn the law enforcement agents on those still
employed to feed, clothe, and shelter them. We take turns being victims and
aggressors, minorities and majorities. Instead of taking responsibility for our
choices and letting others do the same, we point fingers at each other. Self-
improvement becomes equated with turning the guns of government on others,
begetting "war" as we struggle for control of the enforcement agents. Our belief
that selfish others are the problem has turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
... By ignoring the voluntary choices of the individuals involved, we presume that
we know what is best for them. On the average, however, individuals make better
choices for themselves than we can by making a uniform choice for everyone.
Many licensing laws are supported by skilled workers who want to keep the
disadvantaged from offering to serve the customer better than they are willing to.
... Does this mean that skilled workers or union members are selfish others who
deserve our wrath? Not at all! Those who propose licensing laws have seen our
willingness to sanction aggression-through-government for "a good cause." Perhaps
the last time we used aggression, skilled workers were its victims. In a system of
aggression, we simply take turns being winners or losers. Instead of cooperative
win-win scenarios, we perpetrate a win-lose game in which we are constantly at
each others' throats.
Approximately 80% of all new jobs are created by small businesses. Destroying
small businesses through the aggression of licensing laws is the fastest way to
destroy jobs. As small businesses are thwarted, large companies dominate. As jobs
are destroyed, employers get the upper hand. As people become even poorer,
dependence replaces self-sufficiency.
If we truly wish to narrow the gap between rich and poor, while increasing the
wealth of all, the most effective thing we can do is to say "No!" to the
aggression of minimum wage and licensing laws. Instead of interfering in the
voluntary transactions of others, we simply honor our neighbor's choice! It's that
simple!