Burn of the Day
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Keep in mind Annett studied something billed as ‘economics’ somewhere.
Non-academic critics of the Roosevelt Administration (Megan McArdle excepted) usually fail to call attention to its worst feature (and one that came right from the top): it’s affection for cartels, production controls, price controls, and price manipulation. This was manifest in both goods and services markets and in factor markets. The Supreme Court did the country a service by tossing out the National Industrial Recovery Act, but they regrettably left many similar measures in place prescribed by other pieces of legislation. The model of industrial relations prescribed by the Wagner Act was contentious, partial to the noted tendency in Administration policy, and did nothing to inhibit the dominance of unions by machine bosses and (now and again) outright gangsters. When Annett says ‘sectoral bargaining’, what he means is a revival of master contracts which cover whole industries. You used to have that in the auto industry. The auto industry in 1966 had about five producers; Annett wants the model applied across the board, no matter what the market structure. You can look at the condition of General Motors in 2009 and see how well that worked out for everyone.
That Tony who wants socialism? Yeah, I bet he is happy
How many things can be compulsory before it is no longer a free society? How many obligations to the government can be laid upon a citizen before he becomes a subject?
To me, selfishly, the only good thing about the Wagner Act and its detritus is that it provided me with a job assignment that I really liked for about thirteen years, doing collective bargaining, advice, and arbitration cases for management. But it was a disaster for the country. I would much rather have spent my time on something more productive, all things considered.
And don’t even get me started on the Fair Labor Standards Act, another favorite of economic illiterates like Tony. Oy.