Ireland was no bastion of capitalism. Here’s what went wrong!

With Ireland sinking under a huge pile of debt, the socialist liberal left points out that Ireland, with its low taxes and supposedly unregulated banking system, is suffering from the excesses of capitalism. Liberals never waste an opportunity to convince you with pleasant-sounding lies.

I’ll give you a couple of examples of where the Irish and European governments, not capitalism, went wrong.

Minimum Wage

AP reports:

Ireland’s 140-page National Recovery Plan proposes to introduce property and water taxes, raise the sales tax from its current rate of 21 percent to 22 percent in 2013 and to 23 percent in 2014, and cut the minimum wage by euro1 to euro7.65 ($10.20).

So Ireland’s minimum wage was 8.65 Euros or $11.46. The minimum wage in the United States is just $7.25 with some states and cities imposing higher rates (the state of Washington has a $8.55 minimum wage, San Francisco is $9.79, and Santa Fe is $9.85) all of which are much lower than Ireland old $11.46 rate and its new $10.20 rate. With Purchasing Power nearly the same in Ireland as in the United States, the minimum wage there was 58 percent higher than in the US.

While everybody talks about Ireland’s extremely low corporate tax rate, much of that benefit was offset by this too high minimum wage. And the minimum wage did not just affect those at the low end of the wage scale. A minimum wage raises costs throughout the economy forcing employees to demand higher wages even at the higher end of the wage scale.

Liberals may argue that capitalism doomed Ireland to failure, but these high minimum wages are most certainly anti-capitalist.

Low interest rates

For years, the Irish economy was hot, earning the nickname Celtic Tiger. Wikipedia explains:

From 1995 to 2000 GNP rate growth ranged between 6 and 11% through 2001 and early 2002 to 2%. The rate then rose back to an average of about 5%. During that period the Irish GDP rose dramatically to equal then eventually surpass that of all but one state in Western Europe.

This economic growth led to speculative excess which led to inflation:

Inflation brushed 5% per annum towards the end of the ‘Tiger’ period, pushing Irish prices up to those of Nordic Europe, even though wage rates are roughly the same as in the UK.

Also:

Rising wages, inflation and excessive public spending led to a loss of competitiveness in the Irish economy. Irish wages are now substantially above the EU average, particularly in the Dublin region. These pressures primarily affect unskilled, semi-skilled, and manufacturing jobs. Outsourcing of professional jobs is also increasing, with Poland in 2008 gaining several hundred former Irish jobs from the accountancy division of Philips and Dell in January 2009 announced the transfer from Ireland, of 1700 manufacturing jobs, to Poland.

Much of this inflation and rising wages can be attributed to the high minimum wage discussed above. But where was the central bank to deal with this rising inflation?

When Ireland joined the Euro, it lost control of its monetary policy. Normally, a central bank would raise rates and decrease the money supply to fight inflation. But while Ireland was growing quickly, the rest of Europe struggled through most of the 1990s and 2000s with low growth rates and high unemployment. Thus, the European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates low in an attempt to promote growth. As a result, through no choice of its own, Ireland had a loose monetary policy at the exact time it needed a monetary tightening. Thus, Ireland’s economy, most notably its property market and banking system, experienced a huge bubble. We are now suffering the consequence of those previous excesses.

In a true free-market capitalist system, interest rates would have risen through investors’ demand and this would have slowed or stopped the Irish bubble. But the artificial government Euro system prevented this important market process from occurring.

Conclusion

Yes, Ireland was more capitalist than most. But errors like the above led the country to excess and then collapse.

The Absurdity of Minimum Wage Laws

The current minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. However, many states have imposed their own minimum wages because living in those states is more expensive. California, for example, has a minimum wage of $8.00. So why not get rid of the national minimum wage and let the states set their own? The Constitution gives the federal government no such power and this should be left to the states.

But even the states have a problem with minimum wages. Within a state, it may be more expensive to live in one city than another. For example, it is much more costly to live in San Francisco, where the minimum wage is $9.79, than in Fresno. So why not have each city set their own minimum wage as is being done in San Francisco? Why hasn’t New York City raised its minimum wage as it is certainly more expensive to live in  New York City than in Buffalo.

But wait. Even within cities there can be a big disparity in the cost of living based on neighborhood. It is much more expensive to live in Manhattan than it is in Queens. Even within Manhattan, it is more expensive to live in the Upper East Side than in Washington Heights. Even within neighborhoods, the cost of living in different buildings varies.

All this may seem quite absurd, but so is the minimum wage. Each person is an individual with their own needs and wants, their own cost of living. Broken down logically, each person has their own minimum wage at which they are willing to work. In other words, no government law can boost the minimum wage of all people. Or more accurately, we would need millions of minimum wage laws to help each state, each city, each neighborhood, each street, and each person or small group of people.

In reality, minimum wage laws creates winners and losers. Those whose incomes increase will benefit from the minimum wage, but at the same time those who can no longer produce enough profit at the increased wage will lose their jobs because of the minimum wage. And all consumers will pay more for goods and services as the government forces up wages.

The minimum wage sounds great in theory (for employees, not employers). Unfortunately we live in a reality where a minimum wage does more harm than good.