1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:01,520 Speaker 1: The Michael Berry Show. 2 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:04,480 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Saturday Podcast. Honor to have you here. 3 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 2: Last week we brought you Thomas Soul, who I love 4 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 2: and adore and think you can learn a lot from 5 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 2: as I have. This week we're bringing you his mentor 6 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 2: another of my favorites, Milton Friedman. Friedman was one of 7 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 2: the most influential economists of the twentieth century, known for 8 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 2: a very fierce advocacy of free markets, limited government intervention, 9 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 2: and monetarism. He won the Nobel Prize back when it 10 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: still mattered in nineteen seventy six for in the category 11 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 2: of Economic Sciences for his work on consumption analysis, monetary history, 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 2: and stabilization policy. And they're pretty dense and pretty thick, 13 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 2: but it's good reading. This is a speech in which 14 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 2: he debunks labor unions and explains the right to work, 15 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 2: which is why we have states that don't require you 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 2: to join a union. They are known as right to 17 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 2: work states. 18 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 3: And i'll present to you doctor Milton Friedman, Thank you 19 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 3: very much. 20 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 4: The subject that was put out for tonight's talk is 21 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 4: the subject of who protects the worker? 22 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 3: If you were to have a gallip. 23 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 4: Pole go around and ask people that question, or if 24 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 4: someone were to go around and ask people in this 25 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 4: audience the question of who protects the worker, I strongly 26 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 4: suspect that you would get one out of three possible answers. 27 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 4: Some people would say, of course, the unions that protect 28 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 4: the worker. Some other people would tend to say, oh, no, 29 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 4: it's more important the government that protects the worker. And 30 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 4: I suspect most people would say it's nobody who protects 31 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 4: the worker. Now, all three answers are under some circumstances correct, 32 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 4: but all three answers are misleading. They cannot really be 33 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 4: the right answer. One obvious bit of evidence that they 34 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 4: cannot be the right answer, that there's something missing from 35 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 4: that sequence of three answers is the history of the 36 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 4: United States over the past two hundred years. Over that period, 37 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 4: if we at least take the first one hundred and 38 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 4: fifty years period from seventeen seven tventy six to nineteen 39 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 4: fourteen or thereabouts, it could not very well have been 40 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 4: unions that were protecting the worker, since there were almost 41 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 4: no unions. Even craft unions developed fairly early, but even 42 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 4: by nineteen fourteen, there must have been a very very 43 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 4: tiny fraction of all workers in the United States that 44 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 4: were members of Union. It could not have been the 45 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 4: government that was protecting the worker because over that period 46 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 4: government was very small. Total spending by the federal government 47 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 4: over that period never amounted to more than three percent 48 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 4: of the national income, except for the period of the 49 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 4: Great Wars of the Civil War and before that, of course, 50 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 4: the War of eighteen twelve. But during ordinary times federal 51 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 4: spending out of the three percent, state and local spending 52 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 4: amounted to about twice that much, mostly for schools. So 53 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 4: it could not conceivably have been the government that was 54 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 4: protecting the worker. Moreover, not only was spending low, but 55 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 4: there was very little government involvement in the economy in 56 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 4: any way, and it could not have been nobody who 57 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 4: was protecting the worker, because that was a period of 58 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 4: enormous progress for the ordinary worker. If we take that period, 59 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:31,919 Speaker 4: it was a period which saw the growth and development 60 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 4: of the United States from a backward. 61 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 3: Area, but even from the very beginning. 62 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 4: Adam Smith, in his great book The Wealth of Nations, 63 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 4: published in seventeen seventy six, remarks about the conditions in America, 64 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 4: and he says that although America is at the time 65 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:58,359 Speaker 4: much less populous and much less wealthy than Great Britain. 66 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 4: The worker in America is more expensive because they were 67 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 4: at the time, as he argued, fewer workers relative to 68 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 4: the demand for them. Over the period from seventeen seventy 69 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,720 Speaker 4: six on, the average, conditions of the ordinary worker in 70 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,839 Speaker 4: the United States improved enormously. In the latter half of 71 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 4: the nineteenth century. You had millions on millions of people 72 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 4: of penniless immigrants come to this country. My parents came 73 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 4: during that period. Probably the parents or grandparents of many 74 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 4: of the people in this room came. 75 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 3: During that period. Why did they come. 76 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 4: They came in order to improve their lives and to 77 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 4: make a better life for their children and their grandchildren, 78 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 4: and they succeeded. It would be very hard to find 79 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 4: a century in human history in any country anywhere during 80 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 4: which the ordinary man, the ordinary worker, the man who 81 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 4: came to this shore from abroad, or the people who 82 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 4: were here and grew up here. Would be hard to 83 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 4: find a century in which the worker achieved a greater increase, 84 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 4: a more widespread increase in his standard of life, in 85 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 4: his level of living. So neither of three of these 86 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 4: three answers can possibly be the right answer. For a 87 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 4: large part of American history. Before trying to go on 88 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 4: to what the correct answer, in my opinion, is, to 89 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 4: the question, I would like to consider with you each 90 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 4: of the answers that people give and see where they 91 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 4: are right and where they are not, and why they 92 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 4: are right and why they are not. Let's start with 93 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 4: the unions, because that gets the most publicity and the 94 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 4: most attention and is the most misunderstood, in my opinion, 95 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 4: of the three answers. Now, unions do protect some workers. 96 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 4: Unions protect two classes of workers, those of their members 97 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 4: who are employed, and the union officials who run the unions. 98 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 4: But if you're going to look at this as a 99 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 4: general answer, you have to recognize that only about one 100 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 4: fifth of all the workers in the United States are 101 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:37,679 Speaker 4: members of trade unions, and many of those are members 102 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 4: of wholly ineffective trade unions, of trade unions that have 103 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 4: had very little effect on the wages of their members 104 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 4: of the working conditions of their members. It's very interesting 105 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 4: to consider the actual experience of unions and compare it 106 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 4: with the talk about unions and emanates from union leaders, 107 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 4: union headquot and defenders of unions. If you listen to 108 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 4: the talk, you will get the impression that unions exist 109 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 4: to protect the workers who are way down on the 110 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 4: income scale. The talk is always about the necessity of 111 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 4: protecting or helping the low skilled workers against exploitation by employers. 112 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 4: But suppose I were to ask you which are the 113 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 4: strongest unions in the United States. Which unions in the 114 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 4: United States are strongest in the sense of having been 115 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 4: most successful in raising the wage rates the earnings of 116 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 4: their members. 117 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 3: The answer is very soon clear and very definite. 118 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 4: Probably the single most successful union in the United States 119 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 4: from this point of view is the Airline Pilots Union. Now, 120 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 4: this is a union whose members typically reset salaries or 121 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 4: wages somewhere around fifty two hundred thousand dollars. They are 122 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 4: hardly the poor, deprived, exploited workers of union literature. 123 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 3: They have been very successful. 124 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 4: Because they have been able to have a very strongly 125 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 4: organized union, which is and they have, for reasons which 126 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 4: I will come to later, been in a position to 127 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 4: limit entry into the union and into the occupation. In 128 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 4: my opinion, the next strongest union in the United States 129 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 4: is an organization that the people in this room will 130 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 4: not regard as a union, but that's what it is. 131 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 3: In my opinion. 132 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 4: The next strongest union in the United States has been 133 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:51,440 Speaker 4: the American Medical Association. Now, the American Medical Association is 134 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,679 Speaker 4: not a traditional union, but it is a union from 135 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 4: an economic point of view. It is an organization of 136 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 4: people pursuing a particular trade which has tried to control 137 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,560 Speaker 4: the practice of medicine in such a way as to 138 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 4: improve the conditions of its members. If you ask a 139 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 4: union leader what is the function of a union, he 140 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 4: will agree with you, and he will emphasize and rightling 141 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 4: that the first and primary function of a union is 142 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 4: to improve the working conditions of its members. Well, from 143 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 4: this point of view, the American Medical Association is on 144 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 4: the whole done very well. Again, let me emphasize, I 145 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 4: do not mean in any way to be invidious. I 146 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 4: am not criticizing the airline pilots. I am not criticizing 147 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,160 Speaker 4: the members of the American Medical Association. I am only 148 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 4: trying to understand and analyze the situation. Adam Smith, in 149 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 4: that great book on the Wealth of Nations, brought home 150 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 4: to all of us that the way in which the 151 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,679 Speaker 4: world runs as mostly by people seeking to pursue their 152 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 4: self interest. 153 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 3: And there's nothing wrong with that. That's the way in 154 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 3: which we run. 155 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 4: And he pointed out that in the right kind of 156 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,480 Speaker 4: a structure and the right kind of a world, people 157 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 4: in pursuing their own self interests, would also promote the 158 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 4: general interest. So I'm not complaining or criticizing at the moment, 159 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:28,319 Speaker 4: but only analyzing. If there's any fault to be found, 160 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 4: it is not to be. The fault is not to 161 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 4: be found with the members of the Pilots Union or 162 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 4: the members of the AMA, but with the rest of us. 163 00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 3: For letting them get away with it. 164 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 4: Now, the third strongest groups of unions are undoubtedly the 165 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 4: craft unions, the carpenters, the plumbers, the plasterers and the like. 166 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 4: And they again are a group that have always been 167 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 4: been extremely high paid, that have always been among the 168 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 4: elite of the working community. And finally, as my fourth class, 169 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 4: and this is a newly developing class, the strongest unions 170 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 4: have in recent years, in the past decade in particular 171 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 4: become the municipal unions, the unions who have played a 172 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 4: considerable part in reducing New York City to its present 173 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 4: state of bankruptcy. The garbage workers' unions, the school teachers' unions, 174 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 4: all of the. 175 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 3: Unions of municipal employees. 176 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 4: Now, these municipal unions, of course, are illustrate a very 177 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:48,720 Speaker 4: important general case that we will expand more. 178 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:51,359 Speaker 3: Why are they so strong. 179 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 4: Because the people who arrange employment with them are not 180 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 4: the people who pay their salaries. It's the taxpayers of 181 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 4: New York who pay the salaries of the people, but 182 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 4: it's the officials of New York City who make the 183 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 4: deals with the unions. Now that illustrates a general principle 184 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 4: which has reached its most extreme form in Great Britain. 185 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 3: Unions are much stronger in. 186 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 4: Great Britain than they are in the United States. And 187 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,960 Speaker 4: one of the major reasons they are stronger is because 188 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 4: the government of Great Britain has nationalized a great many 189 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 4: more industries. In particular, coal mining, railroads, elected public utilities, 190 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 4: telephones are all nationalized industries, and the worst labor problems 191 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 4: in Britain have almost invariably been in those industries which 192 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 4: are nationalized by the government. Just as in the New 193 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 4: York City and other municipal cases, the growing role of 194 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 4: government has tended to expand the importance in the role 195 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 4: of the unions. One of the strong unions in the 196 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 4: United States, for the same reason are the postal workers' unions, 197 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 4: and so we go down the line. But the most 198 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,199 Speaker 4: important thing about all of these is that the strong 199 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:20,200 Speaker 4: unions tend to be among the high paid workers. Now 200 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 4: you have to ask yourself, are they high paid because 201 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 4: they are strong unions or are they strong unions because 202 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 4: they are high paid. It's the very important distinction, and 203 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 4: the fundamental answer is the people who are in a 204 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 4: high paid position are in far better position to have 205 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:47,440 Speaker 4: a strong union, and the strong unions then reinforce their position, 206 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 4: So both things are true. Part of their high paid 207 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 4: in position today derives from their union existence, the existence 208 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 4: of strong unions. 209 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,080 Speaker 3: But they have been able to have strong unions. 210 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 4: Because they are highly skilled people, relatively few in number, 211 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 4: and therefore far more effective in being able to organize 212 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 4: in such a way as to raise their pay. Because 213 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 4: you must recognize that the only way in which any 214 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 4: group of workers through union organization can increase the amount 215 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 4: of its pay is to make sure that there are 216 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:35,280 Speaker 4: fewer jobs available. There is no way in which a 217 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 4: union can simultaneously increase the number. 218 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 3: Of jobs and the pay. The law of economics, the law. 219 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 4: Of demand in economics is inescapable you can't get out 220 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 4: of it. Raise the price of anything, and fewer people 221 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 4: will want to buy it. Make labor more expensive in 222 00:15:54,760 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 4: any area. Make carpenters more expensive, the number of jobs 223 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:05,119 Speaker 4: available for carpenters will be less. Make physicians more expensive. 224 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,080 Speaker 4: The number of jobs available for physicians will be less. 225 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 3: Make airline pilots more expensive. 226 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 4: The number of jobs available for airplane pilots will be fewer. 227 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 4: As a result, the gains of the group of workers 228 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 4: I've been talking about are other union workers are at 229 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 4: the expense. 230 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 3: The union workers gain at the expense of other workers. 231 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 4: The only way, as I say, in which they can 232 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 4: get a higher pay is by arranging things so that 233 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 4: they're end up being fewer jobs. 234 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 3: And that means that other people who. 235 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 4: Might be perfectly competent, who might be perfectly available for 236 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 4: such jobs, are denied their job those jobs. 237 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:54,119 Speaker 3: As consumer. Not only. 238 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 4: So, the effect of the higher pay of unions is 239 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 4: lower pay for all other work. I once made the 240 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 4: estimate this was twenty odd years ago, but since there 241 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 4: have been a number of studies that have confirmed this 242 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 4: judgment that on the average about ten to fifteen percent 243 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 4: of the workers in this country had been able through 244 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,200 Speaker 4: a union organization to raise the level of their pay 245 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 4: by something like ten to fifteen percent. 246 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,200 Speaker 3: That this had been at the cost. 247 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 4: Of a roughly four percent reduction in the wages earned 248 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 4: by the other eighty five percent. So the effect has 249 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:36,159 Speaker 4: been to raise the pay of high paid workers and 250 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 4: lower the pay of low paid workers. And of course, 251 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 4: as consumers, all workers pay for this, because the effect 252 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 4: of this higher pay on the one hand and fewer 253 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 4: jobs than the other is to make it more expensive 254 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 4: to produce all consumer goods, to make the allocation of labor, 255 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 4: the distribution of labor less efficient, to mean that our 256 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 4: still of life, if everybody is a little lower, houses 257 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 4: are more expensive for everybody. Union leaders, of course, talk 258 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 4: about taking higher wages out of profits. And if I 259 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,680 Speaker 4: were to be talking to a group of union leaders, 260 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 4: or if there are union people in this audience, they 261 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 4: will reproach me by saying, why do you insist it 262 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 4: comes with the other workers? Why can't it come out 263 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 4: of those greedy profit seeking employers. Yeah, of course they're 264 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 4: greedy and profit seeking, so are we all, so are 265 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 4: the workers. 266 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 3: Do you know somebody in this world who is not greedy? 267 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 4: Well, of course, I'm not greedy, but everybody else that's different. 268 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 4: But the point is that you cannot get something out 269 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 4: of nothing. I'm sure you've all heard the old story 270 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 4: about John D. Rockefeller, wealthy man around the very wealthy man, 271 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 4: one of the wealthiest men in the country. People would 272 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,159 Speaker 4: come up to him and tell him how inequitable it 273 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 4: is that he should have so much money and other 274 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 4: people should have less. And he would say to him, well, 275 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 4: suppose we took all the wealth I have, would you 276 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 4: like to have the share that would be available for you? 277 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,160 Speaker 4: And they'd say yes, and he'd take out a dime 278 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 4: and give. 279 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 2: It to him. 280 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,040 Speaker 4: That was roughly the amount that would be available if 281 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 4: you took his wealth and spread it all over all 282 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 4: the people of the country. 283 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 3: In the same way. Suppose you just look at the numbers. 284 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 4: Out of the total national income today, roughly eighty percent 285 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 4: goes to the payment of employees directly or indirectly in 286 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 4: the form of fringe benefits the national These are the 287 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 4: statistics of the national income statisticians. Roughly eighty percent of 288 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 4: the national income now goes for the payment of workers. 289 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 4: Of the remaining twenty percent, something over half of that 290 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:02,880 Speaker 4: goes for the payment of rents, rent on land, rent 291 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 4: on property, and so on, or for the payment of 292 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 4: interest on loans. Profits of corporations. They are the people 293 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 4: who it's always supposed you can squeeze the money out 294 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:18,960 Speaker 4: of profits, and corporate of corporations amount to less than 295 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 4: ten percent of the national income. 296 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 3: That's profit before tax. 297 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 4: If you take off the taxes they pay, profits after 298 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 4: tax amount to something like six percent. 299 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 3: Of the national income. 300 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 4: Well, there isn't much leeway there to raise wages. Then 301 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 4: you can realize also that every time you go in 302 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 4: and try to extract from that small amount to add 303 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 4: to the amount received as wages, you are reducing the 304 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 4: incentive for capital formation, which has been the major source 305 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 4: of increased productivity. 306 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 3: Why is it that the ordinary worker. 307 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,719 Speaker 4: Of the United States has been able to get an 308 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 4: ever higher income until the last few years when that 309 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 4: potentially higher income has been extracted off and diverted down 310 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 4: to Washington. But over two hundred years, the worker was 311 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 4: always able to get a higher income because people had 312 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 4: an incentive to put up factories and machines and invest 313 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 4: money and enable the worker to be more productive. So 314 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 4: there is essentially no possibility. This is not something that's 315 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,640 Speaker 4: a question of ideology, it's a question of arithmetic. There 316 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,880 Speaker 4: just is no large sum which can be tapped by 317 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 4: the so called unions. Now, the question is what is 318 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,119 Speaker 4: the source of power of the strong unions? 319 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:48,959 Speaker 3: Where does it come from? 320 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,880 Speaker 4: Most people, in talking about how unions get their way, 321 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:57,160 Speaker 4: are inclined to focus their emphasis on strikes, which are 322 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 4: very newsworthy, or on feather betting, which is also very 323 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 4: new worthy worthy, or on seniority rules or apprenticeship arrangements. 324 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,200 Speaker 3: And the like. These are not the important things. 325 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,439 Speaker 4: The fundamental source of power of a union is power, 326 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:25,919 Speaker 4: however obtained to force a higher wage rate. If somehow 327 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 4: or other, and I'll come back in a moment to 328 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 4: how they can do it. If somehow or other, a 329 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 4: union can put employers in the position where they cannot 330 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 4: or will not offer less than a certain wage rate, 331 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 4: they can make them offer a higher wage rate. That's 332 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 4: the fundamental source of power. And all of these other 333 00:22:45,119 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 4: devices we're talking about are ways in which you ration. 334 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:52,480 Speaker 3: The limited number of. 335 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,920 Speaker 4: Jobs available at that high wage rate among the people 336 00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 4: who seek it. If you succeed in saying that no 337 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,159 Speaker 4: contractor is going to pay less than eight dollars an 338 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 4: hour for a plumber or a carpenter. That reduces the 339 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,119 Speaker 4: number of jobs available. It also increases the number of 340 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 4: people who would like to get that job. But now, 341 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 4: let's suppose for a moment you can enforce that wagering 342 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:20,919 Speaker 4: somehow or other. There has to be a device for 343 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 4: deciding who shall get the job. That's the role of 344 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 4: seniority arrangements. That's the role of apprenticeship arrangements. That's the 345 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:34,360 Speaker 4: role of feather bedding to find a way to allocate 346 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,320 Speaker 4: and distribute the graving. It's also, i may say, the 347 00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:42,719 Speaker 4: source of the kind of discriminatory policies. 348 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 3: That unions have followed. 349 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 4: There has probably been few sources, few more important sources 350 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 4: of racial discrimination in the United States against discrimination against 351 00:23:54,440 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 4: minority groups than discrimination by skilled craft unions. 352 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 3: And that's because if you. 353 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 4: Are going to have a limited number of jobs and 354 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,439 Speaker 4: you're going to ration them, you have to have some 355 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:14,919 Speaker 4: way to ration them, and irrelevant considerations and appealings to 356 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,360 Speaker 4: prejudice are a way in which you can get support 357 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 4: for certain kinds of rationing. 358 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:22,240 Speaker 3: It's an interestingly. 359 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 4: Phenomenon before the Civil War, during the period of slavery, 360 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:34,440 Speaker 4: the fraction of carpenters, plumbers, and so on who were blacks, 361 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:40,639 Speaker 4: especially in the South, was very high. Forty or fifty 362 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 4: years later, after slavery had been abolished, the fraction of carpenters, plumbers, 363 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 4: and so on who were blacks was smaller than it 364 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:57,159 Speaker 4: had been before. Why because successful trade unions limiting the 365 00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 4: number of jobs had to find a way to ration 366 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 4: those limited and this was a way of rationing it 367 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 4: which would enable their members to be loyal and to 368 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,320 Speaker 4: stick by it, and that the time could get support 369 00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,719 Speaker 4: from the rest of the community. So the real power 370 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 4: is to force higher wages. Now, how can they do it? Well, 371 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 4: one of the obvious ways they do it is by 372 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,200 Speaker 4: threatening to beat up employers who pay a lower wage, 373 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 4: or threatening to beat up or actually beating up workers 374 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 4: who offer to work for a lower wage. And that's 375 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 4: why the union wage arrangements and negotiations have so often 376 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 4: been accompanied by violence. That's a device for enforcing a 377 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 4: higher wage. But an easier way to do it, and 378 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 4: a way which is sort of more respectable, is to get. 379 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:55,480 Speaker 3: Government to help you out. 380 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 4: The AMA has been able to do it by having 381 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 4: a government licensing of physicians so that nobody can become 382 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 4: a physician unless he is licensed to be a physician 383 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 4: by a government licensing board. Now they ask you, who 384 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,399 Speaker 4: do you suppose is competent to decide who should be 385 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:17,040 Speaker 4: a physician? 386 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 3: Only other physicians. 387 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 4: So the membership of licensing boards of medical groups is 388 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 4: always composed of physicians, and that has in fact been 389 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,879 Speaker 4: a key element in the restriction of entry into medicine 390 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,879 Speaker 4: and in keeping the number of physicians to a lower 391 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 4: level than it otherwise would have been. This happens to 392 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 4: be a subject in which I once did an enormous 393 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:47,680 Speaker 4: amount of work. I wrote a book some thirty y 394 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 4: odd years ago on Incomes from Independent Professional Practice, in 395 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 4: which I examined in great detail the practices of the 396 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:03,399 Speaker 4: American Medical Association, American Dental Association, and other organizations. And 397 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 4: I decided at that time that the effect of limitation 398 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 4: of entry into medicine had been to keep down the 399 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 4: number of physicians and to increase the average income of 400 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 4: physicians at that time by something between seventeen to thirty percent. 401 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 4: Now the recent figures would probably be in the same direction. 402 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 4: Of course, if you talk to physicians, they'll say why. 403 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,960 Speaker 4: The reason we're in favor of licensing is in order 404 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 4: to have a very high quality of medical practice. But 405 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 4: then if you look at the rules they have followed, 406 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 4: some of them have no relationship whatsoever to quality of 407 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 4: medical practice. After you had Nazi Germany takeover, and you 408 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 4: had in Germany the Nazi regime, and there was an 409 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:55,439 Speaker 4: attempt by Jewish physicians and other groups, persecuted groups from 410 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 4: Germany to come in the United States, all of a sudden, 411 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,919 Speaker 4: the Medical Associaciation started to require that people be citizens 412 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 4: of the United States in order to practice medicine, in 413 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 4: order to be licensed. Now, it's a very nice thing 414 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,320 Speaker 4: to have people citizens of the United States, But will 415 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:14,760 Speaker 4: you tell me the relationship between that and the ability 416 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:20,159 Speaker 4: to practice medicine. I could go on at great length. Again, 417 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,399 Speaker 4: I'm not criticizing people. I don't mean to say that people. 418 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 4: The physicians aren't sincere when they say this. Of course 419 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 4: they are sincere. That doesn't mean they aren't wrong, that 420 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 4: doesn't mean that they aren't rationalizing in the name of 421 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:43,239 Speaker 4: improving quality a great desire to improve their economic status. Now, 422 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 4: during the Great Depression, they were opening a buckboard. By that, 423 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 4: the Medical Association says, we have to keep down the 424 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 4: number of physicians in order to keep up their incomes, 425 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 4: because otherwise, if they have low incomes, they will be 426 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 4: tempted to engage in unethical practice. Now, if anybody has 427 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 4: ever been able to establish any correlation between the level 428 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 4: of income and the state of personal ethics, I would 429 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 4: like to see that evidence, and so would you. And 430 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 4: of course, licensures use much more broadly. I mentioned the 431 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,320 Speaker 4: medical example because it seems best justified, and it is 432 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,959 Speaker 4: in a way, it's it's harder to argue against than 433 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 4: almost anything else. 434 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 3: But you go down the line. 435 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 4: Have you ever looked at the number of licensing arrangements 436 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 4: you have to be in in almost every state. I 437 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 4: don't know about Pennsylvania, but I'm sure you have to 438 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 4: get a state license to be a barber, and in 439 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 4: most states, in order to get that license, you have 440 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 4: to supposedly have taken courses on the on the biology 441 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,440 Speaker 4: of hair, and on care of skin and all sorts 442 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 4: of things. 443 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 3: And the course. 444 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 4: Again, who is it who licenses of barbers? It's not 445 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 4: the customers, plumbers licensed plumbers. 446 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 3: And if you really want to know the real function. 447 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 4: Of licensure, of licensing all these occupations, all you have 448 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 4: to do is go and see who goes down to 449 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:15,040 Speaker 4: the state legislature to lobby in favor of licensing. 450 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 3: Now, if the real true function of. 451 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 4: Licensing is to protect consumers, you'd expect consumers to. 452 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,240 Speaker 3: Be licensed to be lobbying for licensure. 453 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 4: But you will discover that it's always the plumbers, or 454 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 4: the beauticians, or the morticians, or anything you can name. 455 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 4: There isn't an occupation you can name which hasn't been 456 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:39,720 Speaker 4: down at the state House trying to get licensure. Now, 457 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 4: of course you might say that the plumbers no better 458 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 4: than anybody else, why the customers need protection, But I 459 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 4: sit down very much that that's why they're down at 460 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 4: the state House. They are down there because they want 461 00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:01,080 Speaker 4: to be protected against quote unfair unquote competition. Now you 462 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 4: know what unfair competition is. It's anybody who charges less 463 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:13,720 Speaker 4: than you do. So licensing by government has been a 464 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,400 Speaker 4: major way in which unions have been able to be strengthened. 465 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 4: That's very important for the pilot's union, it's very important 466 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 4: for the medical union, it's important for many craft workers. 467 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 4: A second set of governmental laws that have been greatly 468 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 4: promoting union strength have been the Davis Bacon Walsh Heeley laws. Now, 469 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 4: these are laws under which any person who has a 470 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 4: contract with the US government. The Davis Bacon has to 471 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 4: do with construction, Walsh Heeley has to do with other 472 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 4: kinds of activities. Anybody who has a contract with the 473 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 4: government must pay quote prevailing wages. Prevailing wages are wages 474 00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 4: as determined by the Labor Department of the US government, 475 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 4: and by some strange chance preventing wages always turn out 476 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 4: to be the highest union wages in a very wide area. 477 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 4: And the result of this has been that, in effect, 478 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 4: the government enters in as a partner to enforce trade 479 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 4: union wage restrictions and in this way, to enforce a 480 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 4: restriction in the number of jobs available. Another governmental measure 481 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:32,240 Speaker 4: is minimum wage laws. You'll notice that the people who 482 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 4: are currently lobbying in Washington for higher minimum wages are 483 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 4: not low income workers. It's the f All Cil and 484 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 4: the other high income unions, unions whose members all receive 485 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 4: much higher income than the minimum wage. Now, of course, 486 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 4: they say that the reason they're lobbying for arise in 487 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 4: minimum wages to protect the poor workers at the bottom 488 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:58,120 Speaker 4: and keep them from being squeezed. 489 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:03,560 Speaker 3: But of course, that's talk. The fact is. 490 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 4: That they want to rise in minimum wage to protect 491 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 4: themselves from the competition of other workers. The minimum wage 492 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,959 Speaker 4: rate has the effect of denying jobs to people. It 493 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 4: has the effect of reducing the opportunities available. The reason 494 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 4: we have such enormously high unemployment rate among teenagers, and 495 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 4: particularly black teenagers, is because. 496 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 3: It is illegal to hire. 497 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 4: Anybody whose skills are not sufficient to be worth the 498 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 4: minimum wage rate. The minimum wage law is a law 499 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 4: requiring employers to discriminate against low skilled people. That's not 500 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 4: the way anybody will describe it, but that is in 501 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 4: fact what it is. Here's a person who has low skills. 502 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:55,920 Speaker 4: He's only worth two dollars an hour, and he'd be 503 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 4: delighted to work for two dollars an hour because that's 504 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 4: the only way he's going to acquire better skills and 505 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:04,200 Speaker 4: enable himself to get prepared for a better job. He's 506 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:10,440 Speaker 4: a fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen year old person, for example, 507 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 4: handicamped person, person who has poor education. Illegal for you 508 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 4: to hire him unless you are willing to give him charity, 509 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:20,920 Speaker 4: because you can only hire him if you pay him 510 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,920 Speaker 4: two dollars and thirty five cents. It's always been a 511 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,279 Speaker 4: mystery a minute, why a young man is better off 512 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 4: unemployed at two thirty five an hour then employed at 513 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 4: two dollars an hour. Can you explain that to me? 514 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:40,040 Speaker 4: Ask mister Meanie, he'll explain it to you. Finally, a 515 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 4: major factor strengthening unions, a factor which is changing, is 516 00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:47,160 Speaker 4: a general attitude of the public which has been willing 517 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 4: to tolerate in this area behavior which you would not 518 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 4: tolerate elsewhere. If in the course of a labor dispute, 519 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 4: somebody's car is overturned, it's very likely, very high unlikely. 520 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:03,240 Speaker 4: Then anybody's going to go to jail or get punished 521 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:04,960 Speaker 4: or have to pay for that. If you or I 522 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,760 Speaker 4: go down the street and smash in windows of cars 523 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 4: or turn them over, we'll get put in jail and 524 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:13,240 Speaker 4: we'll have to compensate the victims. But if this happens 525 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:16,719 Speaker 4: in the course of a labor dispute, much less likely 526 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,759 Speaker 4: to happen. And that's because the public at large has 527 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,359 Speaker 4: felt that somehow that was a noble activity and should 528 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,840 Speaker 4: be protected. As I say, I believe that position is 529 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,919 Speaker 4: changing now. A final source of power has sometimes been 530 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,239 Speaker 4: collusion between the unions on the one hand and the 531 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:40,000 Speaker 4: employers on the other to monopolize not labor but the product. 532 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,359 Speaker 4: We have anti trust laws in this country which make 533 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,320 Speaker 4: it illegal for people to get together for employers to 534 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 4: get together on price fixing agreements, and some unions have 535 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 4: been strong by offering in effect their services to employers 536 00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,600 Speaker 4: as a way to hold up prices and fix them 537 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 4: in a way that is legal and does gets around 538 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 4: the Anti Trust Act. The most important historical case of 539 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 4: that was back in the nineteen thirties when John L. 540 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:14,799 Speaker 4: Lewis used his coal Miners' union as a way to 541 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 4: enforce with the aid and consent and agreement of the 542 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:23,080 Speaker 4: coal miners, a high price on coal. He was perfectly 543 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:25,040 Speaker 4: willing to see the number of members of his union 544 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 4: go down and in return to compensate those who remain 545 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:33,560 Speaker 4: by sharing with the employers that returns from monopolizing the 546 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 4: coal industry. Another very important case of this has been 547 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 4: the Teamster's Union, which in various places has produced monopolistic 548 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:48,720 Speaker 4: situation in brewery and beer by enforcing fixed prices. 549 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 3: On beer through union activity. Well, now are enough for unions, 550 00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 3: What about government here? Again? Government protects some. 551 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:06,439 Speaker 4: And I've already mentioned some of the measures whereby they do. 552 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 4: All of these measures which strengthen unions, such as the 553 00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:16,120 Speaker 4: Walsh Heeley Davis Baconey, such as licensing, such as minimum 554 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 4: wage laws, are all governmental measures which do protect some 555 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 4: workers by strengthening the unions. Again, the high paid workers, 556 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:29,680 Speaker 4: not the low paid ones. In addition, the government also 557 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:35,160 Speaker 4: protects government workers. You know, it's interesting to consider. Let 558 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 4: me ask you what you suppose. What do you suppose 559 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,480 Speaker 4: is the richest county in the United States. What do 560 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,799 Speaker 4: you suppose as a county that has the highest per 561 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,040 Speaker 4: capit income. Well, now, most people would say, well, that 562 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:50,240 Speaker 4: may be maybe that's Westchester County, the high income county 563 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:54,839 Speaker 4: around near New York. Or maybe that's DuPage County north 564 00:37:54,880 --> 00:38:00,560 Speaker 4: of Chicago, where the wealthy people live around Chicago. Or 565 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 4: maybe it's one of the counties in Connecticut, the bedroom 566 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 4: community for the executives of New York. All of those 567 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,760 Speaker 4: are high wage counties, but that isn't the highest county 568 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,720 Speaker 4: in the country. The highest income county in the country 569 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:20,400 Speaker 4: is the county in Virginia adjacent to the District of Columbia, 570 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 4: which is a bedroom community for government employees. 571 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 3: That's the highest income county in the country. 572 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 4: There is an article in the Wall Street Journal just 573 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 4: within the last week from which I cannot resist quoting 574 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:38,720 Speaker 4: something said the Wall Street Journal In this article about 575 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:42,920 Speaker 4: the federal civil Service. As the civil service regulations have 576 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 4: ballooned to fill twenty one volume, some five feet thick, 577 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:53,640 Speaker 4: government managers have found it increasingly difficult to fire employers employees. 578 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,800 Speaker 4: At the same time, promotions and merit increases have become 579 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:03,239 Speaker 4: almost automatic. The result is a bureaucracy nearly devoid of 580 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:07,920 Speaker 4: incentive and largely beyond anyone's control. Of the one million 581 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 4: persons eligible last year for merit raises, only six hundred 582 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:16,239 Speaker 4: did not receive them. No, I have no reason to 583 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,240 Speaker 4: suppose that those a lot of those million workers didn't 584 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,080 Speaker 4: deserve merit increases. But do you really think the nine 585 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:27,160 Speaker 4: hundred and ninety nine thousand, four hundred of them deserved 586 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:32,280 Speaker 4: merit increases. If so, you've had better experience with federal 587 00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 4: employees than I have had. The Wall Street Journal goes on, 588 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,640 Speaker 4: almost no one is fired. Less than one percent of 589 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 4: federal workers lost their job last year. Life is pleasant 590 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:52,480 Speaker 4: in the bureaucracy. The average annual salary is fifteen three 591 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 4: hundred and forty three dollars, and most employees are due 592 00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 4: to get a seven point zero five percent rais in October. Well, 593 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,960 Speaker 4: that's a group of workers whom the government protects. The 594 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:08,879 Speaker 4: states and cities, of course offer other examples, but once 595 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:13,760 Speaker 4: again you should ask at who's expense, and the answer 596 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,919 Speaker 4: is obvious. At the expense of people in the main 597 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 4: who have lower incomes. It's at the expense of the taxpayer. 598 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,520 Speaker 4: It's because of this that forty percent of the income 599 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,239 Speaker 4: of the American people today goes to pay for the 600 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:30,359 Speaker 4: costs of government at state. 601 00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:31,760 Speaker 3: Local, and federal levels. 602 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,560 Speaker 4: About twenty six percent at the federal level and about 603 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:41,040 Speaker 4: fourteen percent at the state and local levels. What about 604 00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 4: the match brooded and the much noted and numerous laws. 605 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:49,080 Speaker 4: It range from workmen's compensation to child labor, minimum wages, 606 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:55,400 Speaker 4: fair employment practices, commissions, affirmative action, hour and wage laws, OSHL. 607 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:58,240 Speaker 4: And you pick out any other four letters from the alphabet, 608 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:03,360 Speaker 4: and you'll have another one. Now, some of these measures 609 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,400 Speaker 4: have had some effect, and sometimes they've had a favorable 610 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:12,400 Speaker 4: effect on workers, but most of the favorable ones, for example, 611 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:19,839 Speaker 4: workmen's compensation laws, child labor laws have been an embodiment 612 00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 4: into law of practices that have already become widespread before 613 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,239 Speaker 4: they became law, and most of them have simply extended 614 00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:32,759 Speaker 4: to certain fringe areas practices that have already developed independently. 615 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 4: Most of the rest of these measures benefit bureaucrats at 616 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,239 Speaker 4: the expense of the rest of us, rather than benefiting 617 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:47,160 Speaker 4: the workers. The OSHA has a very large bureaucracy and 618 00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:51,520 Speaker 4: an increasing one, but it hasn't been very effected in 619 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:54,520 Speaker 4: improving a lot of workers and so on down the line. Now, 620 00:41:54,520 --> 00:42:00,200 Speaker 4: what about the third answer that nobody protects the workers? Again, Yeah, 621 00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:04,040 Speaker 4: that's true for some workers. But who there are two 622 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 4: classes of workers who are not protected by anybody. They 623 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:13,320 Speaker 4: are those workers who have effectively only one possible employer. 624 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:18,719 Speaker 4: And second, they are those workers who have no possible employers. 625 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:25,719 Speaker 4: Who are those with only one possible employer. Well, obviously 626 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:28,960 Speaker 4: that applies to all the workers in a country like 627 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:33,560 Speaker 4: Russia or China or Cuba. If you have a totalitarian 628 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:37,560 Speaker 4: government in which tatalitarian country in which the government is 629 00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:41,400 Speaker 4: the only employer er, then there is nobody who protects 630 00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 4: the worker. He's at the complete mercy of that government 631 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:50,280 Speaker 4: and the result has been perfectly clear. The ordinary worker 632 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:56,439 Speaker 4: in these totalitarian countries is very badly off. His level 633 00:42:56,480 --> 00:43:00,520 Speaker 4: of living is low, his conditions of work are poor, 634 00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:05,879 Speaker 4: his freedom is limited. Some of the busses in those 635 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:12,360 Speaker 4: countries do very well. The people in charge, the polit bureau, 636 00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,840 Speaker 4: the people at the top, and the bureaucracy. 637 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:18,760 Speaker 3: Some of them do extremely well. 638 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:23,279 Speaker 4: But the ordinary worker has nobody to protect him. In 639 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:27,759 Speaker 4: our own society, it's very interesting. Again, you have a paradix, 640 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:33,719 Speaker 4: like the union paradix. The people who have only one employer, 641 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 4: possible employer, tend to be very high paid people. The 642 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:41,719 Speaker 4: classical example that we always used to give in our 643 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:46,439 Speaker 4: economic courses was Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth, the Great home 644 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:50,080 Speaker 4: Run King, was, as you know, the most popular and 645 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:56,960 Speaker 4: the most widely known baseball player of his time. It 646 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:02,839 Speaker 4: so happened that the Yankees had the largest stadium of 647 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:06,600 Speaker 4: any of the baseball clubs at that time, and so 648 00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,760 Speaker 4: they were the only people They were the only people 649 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:15,480 Speaker 4: who for whom Babe Ruth could work and really get 650 00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:18,560 Speaker 4: the full value of his work, because he could fill 651 00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:20,279 Speaker 4: the Yankee stadium, he could fill in, and he could 652 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:23,400 Speaker 4: also fill any of the other stadiums, but the Yankees 653 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 4: had a great advantage over any other team in hiring 654 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,160 Speaker 4: him because they had the biggest stadium. As a result, 655 00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:31,560 Speaker 4: he really only had one potential employer in the sense 656 00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:34,360 Speaker 4: that the next best was way down. That doesn't mean 657 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,840 Speaker 4: he didn't do very well, but it meant that nobody 658 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:42,359 Speaker 4: was protecting him except himself. He was protecting himself through 659 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,279 Speaker 4: his skills, but it was a matter of bargaining with 660 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:46,239 Speaker 4: the employer in. 661 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:47,080 Speaker 3: The same way today. 662 00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,600 Speaker 4: Until recently, when you had a considerable degree of unionization 663 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:57,279 Speaker 4: in the professional athletes, the baseball football players had only 664 00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:00,319 Speaker 4: one potential employer because the employers that arranged to get 665 00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:04,440 Speaker 4: an exception through the law, whereby you had essentially a 666 00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:08,399 Speaker 4: slave contract with a baseball or a football player. Once 667 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:10,600 Speaker 4: he was signed up with one company, he couldn't really 668 00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,960 Speaker 4: negotiate to go and play with another team. 669 00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 3: And as a result, he had very little protection. 670 00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:23,840 Speaker 4: Similarly, if I have a highly skilled man whose skills 671 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,239 Speaker 4: are so great that only one company can use it. 672 00:45:27,880 --> 00:45:30,520 Speaker 4: He has other possibilities, but they're at a much lower level. 673 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:35,480 Speaker 4: Nobody protects him. Who are the people in our society 674 00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:37,800 Speaker 4: who have no possible employer. 675 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:40,520 Speaker 3: In our society. 676 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,680 Speaker 4: Most of the people who have no possible employer are 677 00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:46,320 Speaker 4: the result of governmental measures. 678 00:45:47,560 --> 00:45:50,279 Speaker 3: The minimum wages have been the. 679 00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:53,200 Speaker 4: Most important factor that have created a large class of 680 00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:58,080 Speaker 4: people who have no possible employer. And the adverse effects 681 00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,960 Speaker 4: of the minimum wages have been greatly acerbated by the 682 00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:06,960 Speaker 4: poor education which is provided by the government. We start 683 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,719 Speaker 4: out with having governmental schools in. 684 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:13,800 Speaker 3: Harlem that are terrible. 685 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:17,759 Speaker 4: And for a variety of reasons, provide lousy education. So 686 00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:21,160 Speaker 4: we end up with people and dropouts from schools and 687 00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:24,880 Speaker 4: kids coming out from school who have no skills. And 688 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:27,839 Speaker 4: then we say to them, and we say to employers, huh, 689 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:30,759 Speaker 4: you can't remedy our defects by hiring these people and 690 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:35,480 Speaker 4: teaching them, because we won't let you hire them unless 691 00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:39,680 Speaker 4: you're willing to pay them more than their worth. So 692 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:44,759 Speaker 4: the effect of the double whammy of poor governmental educational 693 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:46,920 Speaker 4: arrangements on the one hand and a minimum wage on 694 00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:49,759 Speaker 4: the other is to create a class of people who 695 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,400 Speaker 4: have essentially in fact, no possible employer. 696 00:46:55,440 --> 00:47:01,040 Speaker 3: Now let me turn. I believe that what I've. 697 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:04,680 Speaker 4: Just said about the case in which nobody protects people 698 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:07,160 Speaker 4: shows the way to the right answer. 699 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:09,240 Speaker 3: Who protects the worker? 700 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:17,800 Speaker 4: Workers are protected by employers, not by his own employer, 701 00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:21,399 Speaker 4: because a man who has only one possible employer has 702 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:27,560 Speaker 4: no protection. The employers who protect a worker are the 703 00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,080 Speaker 4: people who would like to hire him, but for whom 704 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:30,880 Speaker 4: he doesn't work. 705 00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:34,279 Speaker 3: The real protection that a worker. 706 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:37,640 Speaker 4: Gets is the existence of more than one possible employer. 707 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:41,840 Speaker 4: That's what gives him freedom, That's what enables him to 708 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:46,160 Speaker 4: get the full value of his services. It's competition. It's 709 00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:49,279 Speaker 4: a free market in which you have a diversity of 710 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:54,440 Speaker 4: sources of employment, which provides the effective protection to the worker. 711 00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:58,280 Speaker 4: This is a very general feature of the free market, 712 00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:05,360 Speaker 4: applies in every area and in every direction. A worker 713 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:10,759 Speaker 4: is protected from exploitation by his own employer by the 714 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:12,840 Speaker 4: existence of alternative people from whom. 715 00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:13,439 Speaker 3: He can go to work. 716 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:21,600 Speaker 4: The employer is protected from exploitation by his employee by 717 00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:23,640 Speaker 4: the existence of alternative people he can hire. 718 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:25,960 Speaker 3: Again. 719 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,719 Speaker 4: If I, as an employer, had only one man who 720 00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:30,640 Speaker 4: could do the job I needed to have done, I'd 721 00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:36,640 Speaker 4: be at his mercy. He could take every penny up 722 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:40,279 Speaker 4: to the point where I went out of business. What 723 00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,840 Speaker 4: protects if I'm an employer, what it protects me is 724 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:45,319 Speaker 4: that there's more than one person I can hire. 725 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:48,239 Speaker 3: The consumer in. 726 00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:50,719 Speaker 4: His capacity as a purchaser of goods and purchaser of 727 00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:55,320 Speaker 4: goods and services, he's protected by the existence of alternative sellers. 728 00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:59,319 Speaker 4: Why do we have a lousy postal service because there's 729 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:02,160 Speaker 4: only one place can buy it? Why do we have 730 00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:06,000 Speaker 4: terrible schools? Of course, there are some good schools. Here's 731 00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:09,080 Speaker 4: an example of a good auditorium. I don't know that 732 00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:15,800 Speaker 4: it's a good school. It's a marvelous auditorium. I suppose 733 00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:19,360 Speaker 4: it was paid for by the people who use it. 734 00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:23,200 Speaker 3: Was it who paid for it? Did the people who 735 00:49:23,239 --> 00:49:25,440 Speaker 3: paid for it? And have a choice? 736 00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:28,840 Speaker 4: Well, you can answer those questions yourself. They're too obvious 737 00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:33,720 Speaker 4: for me to spend any time on. But in general, 738 00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:38,560 Speaker 4: the reason why schooling is backwards and we have not 739 00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:41,600 Speaker 4: had the kind of technological advance in schooling. The reason 740 00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:44,960 Speaker 4: why SAT scores have been going down, an educational performance 741 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,719 Speaker 4: has been going down, is because we don't have any 742 00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:55,040 Speaker 4: large number of alternative schools. So in every area, what 743 00:49:55,239 --> 00:49:58,799 Speaker 4: protects the worker, what protects the employer, what protects the 744 00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:06,759 Speaker 4: consumer is all the existence of variety and alternatives, And 745 00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:11,680 Speaker 4: of course, every group in our society that wants to 746 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:16,040 Speaker 4: get a privileged position, tries to protect itself from competition 747 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:16,680 Speaker 4: by others. 748 00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:19,799 Speaker 3: The workers try to. 749 00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:25,240 Speaker 4: Protect themselves from competition from other employees by forming unions, 750 00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:30,799 Speaker 4: getting government licensure, having arrangements under which they can limit 751 00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,120 Speaker 4: the number of people who can get certain kinds of jobs. 752 00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:39,959 Speaker 4: Producers try to get protection against competition by get by 753 00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:47,200 Speaker 4: having employers organizations, forming monopolies, cartels, or by getting the 754 00:50:47,239 --> 00:50:51,719 Speaker 4: government to impose tariffs or restrictions on imports, or to 755 00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,920 Speaker 4: give them special advantages of other kinds. 756 00:50:56,239 --> 00:50:58,680 Speaker 3: So all of us, we are all of us the 757 00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:00,360 Speaker 3: same way. 758 00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:05,279 Speaker 4: We want to avoid competition, and yet it is a 759 00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:10,440 Speaker 4: competition that effectively protects us in our various forms. It 760 00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:16,680 Speaker 4: protects the worker by providing alternative opportunities for employment. It 761 00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:20,880 Speaker 4: protects the employer by providing alternative employees. It protects the 762 00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:24,040 Speaker 4: consumer by providing alternative products. 763 00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:29,160 Speaker 3: So the conclusion which I would suggest to you. 764 00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:34,239 Speaker 4: Is that the real way to make sure that the 765 00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:37,880 Speaker 4: worker continues to be protected, that the gains in our 766 00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:41,200 Speaker 4: standards of life that we have had as workers over 767 00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:44,920 Speaker 4: the past hundred and fifty two hundred years continue. The 768 00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:48,239 Speaker 4: real way is to make sure that we preserve the 769 00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:53,080 Speaker 4: existence of competition and of free markets. Unions can and 770 00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:57,040 Speaker 4: dou serve many useful purposes, but they also can do 771 00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:02,080 Speaker 4: great harm if they interfere with competition and freedom of markets. 772 00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:07,600 Speaker 4: The same is true of organizations of employers. Employers' associations 773 00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:12,840 Speaker 4: can and do serve many useful purposes, provided there is 774 00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:17,520 Speaker 4: free entry. In all cases, we must try to preserve 775 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:20,680 Speaker 4: freedom for alternatives. 776 00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:23,000 Speaker 3: Try to preserve the freedom of. 777 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,440 Speaker 4: Workers to join or not to join a union, the 778 00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:30,239 Speaker 4: freedom of employers to contract with the union or not 779 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:33,760 Speaker 4: to contract with the union, and to keep the government 780 00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:36,719 Speaker 4: neutral in this business. Let the government attend to the 781 00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:38,919 Speaker 4: things it ought to be attending to and. 782 00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:40,440 Speaker 3: Not get involved. 783 00:52:41,560 --> 00:52:46,719 Speaker 4: In establishing positions of privilege, either for workers on the 784 00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:49,439 Speaker 4: one hand or for employers on the other. 785 00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:50,040 Speaker 3: Thank you. 786 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,520 Speaker 1: If you like the Michael Berry Show in podcast, please 787 00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:59,759 Speaker 1: tell one friend, and if you're so inclined, write a 788 00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:05,160 Speaker 1: review of our podcast. Comments, suggestions, questions, and interest in 789 00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:09,440 Speaker 1: being a corporate sponsor and partner can be communicated directly 790 00:53:09,480 --> 00:53:13,960 Speaker 1: to the show at our email address, Michael at Michael 791 00:53:14,040 --> 00:53:18,120 Speaker 1: Berryshow dot com, or simply by clicking on our website 792 00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:22,960 Speaker 1: Michael Berryshow dot com. The Michael Berry Show and podcast 793 00:53:23,239 --> 00:53:28,400 Speaker 1: is produced by Ramon Roebliss, The King of Ding. Executive 794 00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:37,280 Speaker 1: producer is Chad Nakanishi. Jim Mudd is the creative director. 795 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:43,680 Speaker 1: Voices Jingles, Tomfoolery and Shenanigans are provided by Chance McLain. 796 00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:48,960 Speaker 1: Director of Research is Sandy Peterson. Emily Bull is our 797 00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:56,439 Speaker 1: assistant listener and superfan. Contributions are appreciated and often incorporated 798 00:53:56,640 --> 00:54:00,279 Speaker 1: into our production. Where possible, we give credit, where or not, 799 00:54:00,760 --> 00:54:03,920 Speaker 1: we take all the credit for ourselves. God bless the 800 00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:09,640 Speaker 1: memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis, be a simple 801 00:54:09,719 --> 00:54:15,520 Speaker 1: man like Leonard Skinnard told you, and God bless America. Finally, 802 00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:20,040 Speaker 1: if you know a veteran suffering from PTSD, call Camp 803 00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:25,920 Speaker 1: Hope at eight seven seven seven one seven PTSD and 804 00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:30,360 Speaker 1: a combat veteran will answer the phone to provide free counseling.