It is truly embarrassing for the businessmen in this country to have a president who makes such economically incompetent statements and gestures. Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce a couple of months ago, our president effectively rebuked business success. He suggested that “if we’re fighting to reform the tax code and increase exports to help you compete, the benefits can’t just translate into greater profits and bonuses for those at the top. They should be shared by American workers”. This is a blatant example of wealth redistribution.
In a free economy, employee wages are such that an employer willingly pays whatever it takes so that the amount paid to an employee is less than what can be earned from them – i.e. they have to be able to produce. Take, for example, someone who sweeps floors. If you are in need of a floor sweeper and the benefit of sweeping is worth more than the sweeping costs, then you hire the floor sweeper. If not, then you leave the floors dirty.
The same principle has always applied – albeit on a grander scale– in the United States. We see this currently in manufacturing which is at an all time high, but the number of manufacturing employees is a lot less. Workers are so productive with technology and capital, they can be – and it’s worth it for them to be – paid more.
On the other hand, if a company pays its worker more than the worker is actually producing, then the worker will become wholly uncompetitive. It is not better for a worker to be paid more than he is worth, because at some point, he loses the capability to independently support himself. The scenario becomes not what his labor is worth – but instead that he has been given a gift. This takes away the incentive to produce and earn. It goes against what has made our country thrive, which is hard work and an investment of time and talent.
By publicly and strongly suggesting that employers unfairly and extraordinarily compensate their workers in an attempt to level the playing field, Obama has effectively shown his true colors regarding his attitude toward businesses and their operation. Private businesses in the country, unlike the government, do not have the luxury of spending without consequences. Attempting to coerce fairness instead of cultivating a free market, Obama has strongly disadvantaged this country to the rest of the world.