Dumb Rules and Dumber Politicians

Worker Shortages and Dumb Rules 

Kneecapping Business


Mike Hosking
NZ Herald

I ask a simple question: Why is this Government so hell-bent on making doing business in this country so hard?

We could, of course, spend the whole morning discussing the plight of the farmer. Isolated as some sort of demonic operator, pillager of the earth. Instead of the backbone of the economy.  But this specific question is asked as a result of seeing Francie Perry on the news. Her plight is the plight of many like her. She grows strawberries, and like most others who grow stuff, she can't get people to pick the stuff she grows.

And the Government won't let her solve her problem. She employs 1200 people - but needs 140 or so from offshore and bureaucracy is killing her. Excuses and ideology are killing her and her business.

The Dislocations of the EU on Britain's Labour Market

Another Brexit Bonus?

Unrestricted migration has caused huge strains in UK society.  It has been one of the major failures of EU ideology.

We live in a time when people are mobile.  Labour was once seen as fixed--in location, or nation.  Capital, on the other hand, was mobile.  If labour were too expensive or in short supply, a business could move its capital offshore to jurisdictions where labour was more plentiful and less expensive.  It could set up its business in another country relatively easily.  But moving the entire work force to another country was almost impossible.

But now things have changed somewhat.  Labour (at least for the moment) is far more mobile than it used to be.  What this has meant is that migrants (often operating off a very low cost base) have been able to enter Britain and take jobs which otherwise British people would have taken.  The end result has been under-utilization of British labour, and an over-utilization of (cheaper, more mobile) migrant labour.  In this sense, business has never had it so good.  It has not had to move its plant and capital offshore (thereby saving costs); it could stay exactly where it was, and employ cheap migrant labour.  Consequently it is reaping the benefits of moving to an offshore, lower-cost labour market, without actually moving an inch.

As many of four million Brits cannot get a job or the work they would like because they are forced to compete with a “virtually unlimited pool” of migrant workers from the European Union (EU), a report has said.

Whitey Privilege

Faux Guilt, Faux Pity, Genuine Ignorance

We came across a tragic tale today.  New Zealand is rife with entrenched privileges for male whiteys.  It took us some time to stop laughing and get up off the floor.  Here is the whale of the tale:

The Human Rights Commission has launched an interactive tool revealing the full extent of gender and racial inequality in the workplace.  Young Middle Eastern and African women are at the bottom of the heap, with median pay of just $14.75 an hour, on par with the minimum wage.  At the other end of the spectrum, white men aged 45-64 command top dollar, earning a median hourly rate of $28.77.  [Stuff]

And here is the punchline that generated all the mirth:

Middle-aged white men might be sick of being cast as villains, but a report suggests they should check their privilege.

Oooooh.  Let's check our privilege.  Note the implicit guilt-manipulation in this sentence: "white men might be sick of being cast as villains . . . "  You see, if they "checked their privilege" they would learn they really are villains.  They are the reason other (non middle-aged, white) people are being paid less than them.  What a hoot.