Barton: SQ 832 has Big City costs for Small Town budgets

SQ 832: Big City Costs, Small Town Budgets

by Brian Barton, Oilton City Council, Ward 4

What works in New York and Los Angeles does not always work in Oilton, Drumright, or Mannford, Oklahoma. But what does it mean for small towns across our state?

There will be a lot of discussion about State Question 832 and raising the minimum wage. The idea behind it is simple. People want hardworking Oklahomans to earn a better living. That is a goal most of us share. But the real question is how statewide policies affect small town budgets and the services our communities depend on every day.

One part of the proposal ties future wage increases to a national urban inflation index. In simple terms, that means wages would continue rising automatically every year.

Small towns run on local dollars. Our budgets come from local sales taxes, utility payments, and the limited revenue streams that keep a community running.

This is not unique to Oilton. The same reality applies to small towns across Oklahoma. Whether it is a town of 500 or 5,000, the math does not change. Limited revenue, essential services, and tight budgets are the norm, not the exception.

A modest raise sounds good to everyone at first. But it does not stop at $15 or even $20 an hour. The increases continue every year forever, and over time they can quickly become unsustainable for small businesses and small town budgets.

Small: Where do businesses get their money?

Where do businesses get their money?

By Jonathan Small

Under State Question 832, the minimum wage in Oklahoma will more than double from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2029 and then continue rising at a rapid pace every year based on the cost of living in the nation’s largest urban centers.

Even supporters of SQ 832 concede it will increase Oklahoma employers’ labor costs by $783 million annually. They tout this as a good thing, but ignore a fundamental question: Where do businesses get their money? The answer: from their customers.

Ultimately, every dollar an employer receives comes from a customer. Money doesn’t grow on trees, as your dad probably told you. This economic reality escapes the supporters of SQ 832.

Small: What causes inflation? Government.

What causes inflation? Government.

By Jonathan Small

The financial pinch families feel from rising prices is undeniable. Yet too few understand that government is responsible for soaring prices.

Consider college costs. The massive government subsidies provided to colleges, through free-flowing student loans, billions in state and local tax dollars, government’s cultural overemphasis on a college degree, and the complicit “paper ceiling” at many businesses, make students much less price sensitive. Colleges have responded by hiking tuition.

According to JP Morgan, the cost of clothing has increased 35 percent since 1983 while gas increased 182 percent. But college tuition has soared 914 percent.

SQ 832: a competition-crushing, AI-adopting dream for Big Business

SQ 832: A Competition-Crushing, AI-Adopting Dream for Big Business

State Question 832, the ballot measure that would dramatically raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage, is a gift to Big Business, Big Tech, and the accelerating AI revolution. Oklahomans will vote on June 16th to decide the fate of our state's economic future. SQ 832 is bad news, and let me take a few moments to warn you about it.

We stand at the threshold of tremendous technological transformation, one that risks the “de-humanization” of common work. AI, algorithms, and robotics are increasingly being used, in all industries, to handle routine tasks. I'm watching it grow in the cleaning and restoration industry; I'm sure it's in your field as well.

If you pay any attention at all to what the Big Tech gurus are saying at global conferences and shindigs, they are eager to remove humans from the labor equation wherever possible. Other actors are seeking to use this to pursue a socialist Universal Basic Income, whereby everyone is on the government dole and thus more easily controlled, particularly as tech-driven surveillance becomes more mainstream (see State Rep. Tom Gann's long-running fight against the implementation of Flock cameras and similar technology across the state).

SQ 832 does not fight this trend; it subsidizes it. Rather than lifting employees up the ladder, it would saw it off above their reach.

Small: The compounding effect of good policy

The compounding effect of good policy

By Jonathan Small

The combination of good government policies, over time, has a compounding effect that reaps growing benefit for a state. The same is true of bad government policies.

Oklahoma’s loss of major company headquarters in recent months is tied to the latter and shows why lawmakers must not retreat from undoing the harmful policy legacy of Oklahoma’s first 100 years.

When officials with Devon Energy and Coterra Energy announced the two companies are merging, they also announced the combined company will be headquartered in Houston, Texas, not Oklahoma City.

Shortly after, Expand Energy—formerly known as Chesapeake Energy—announced a similar headquarters relocation.

Small: Minimum-wage reality

Minimum-wage reality

By Jonathan Small

On paper, Oklahoma’s minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. In reality, the starting wage for most entry-level jobs today is much higher with wages of $11 to $14 an hour common.

That fact undermines the entire narrative of those claiming government needs to set wages. They argue that employers won’t pay a penny more than legally required. But this is false. Employee pay is not the product of government edict, but of market reality. Employers must pay wages that attract workers. That’s why today’s entry-level wages in Oklahoma are much higher than the official minimum.

Small: If you hate the poor, raise the minimum wage

If you hate the poor, raise the minimum wage

By Jonathan Small

The gap between intentions and outcomes can be vast in politics, as the push to raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage demonstrates.

Proponents say they want to help struggling citizens at the bottom of the state’s economic ladder. But in practice, their wage-policy preference yanks that ladder out of the hands of those low-income workers, leaving them not only poor but also with far less opportunity for future advancement.

Why? Because the market still sets worker rates even when government planners pretend otherwise. If a minimum wage exceeds market value, it forces employers to simply reduce hiring, shift to automation, or move jobs to more business-friendly climates.

If you doubt it, look at California.

OCPA's Small: Family beats any government program

Family beats any government program

By Jonathan Small

For this year’s annual Citizenship Award Dinner, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs was honored to have sports journalist Jason Whitlock as our keynote speaker. Whitlock is known for his refreshing takes on sports and social issues and didn’t disappoint.

While he touched on several topics, Whitlock, who is black, noted that those who suggest police are routinely killing innocent black men are ignoring data that show he is more likely to be shot by someone in his local neighborhood than by the police. He also noted that pop cultural influences have played a huge role in influencing youth to pursue lifestyles that end badly. Such influences are often more impactful than the “systemic racism” proclaimed by academics.

Whitlock’s comments brought to mind the “success sequence” identified by researchers with the left-wing Brookings Institution, who found individuals who do three things typically become middle-class earners.

1889 Institute: if licensing laws protect consumers, why are they blatantly anti-consumer?

If Licensing Protects Consumers, Why Are Licensing Laws Blatantly Anti-Consumer?

By Mike Davis, 1889 Institute

Once upon a time, there was a small island whose economy revolved around scuba-diving tourism. The island's legislature considered scuba dangerous. Inexperienced divers would surface too quickly and get the bends. The legislature, wanting to make diving seem safer, passed a law banning sharks from designated scuba diving zones. There were no known shark attacks, nor were sharks frightening divers into surfacing too quickly, but people felt safer. This is what most occupational licensing schemes look like. Legislators give the public a sense of security, while giving powerful insiders protection from competition. The laws do almost nothing to help consumers. They’re futile. They are also deceptive.

OCPA column: Politicians wrong to bash two-job earners

Politicians wrong to bash two-job earners

By Jonathan Small

Growing up, my parents worked multiple jobs. As an adult, my wife and I have done the same. Now some prominent politicians suggest that two-job workers are a sign of economic weakness. That shows they don’t understand family budgets or the truth about the broader economy.

Part of the attack is purely political. National economic growth is a problem for Democrats wishing to win the presidency, as is the low unemployment rate. Dismissing that low rate as a product of overworked, two-job individuals is how some politicians have responded.

Yet low unemployment numbers are not the result of people working multiple jobs. The unemployment rate is calculated on an individual basis. It counts the number of people without a job who are actively looking for one. A person with multiple jobs does not lower the unemployment rate any more than someone with a single job.

Furthermore, economic data doesn’t suggest two-job individuals are common, let alone widespread. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 5 percent of the 162 million Americans who have jobs hold more than one job. And just 5 percent of that 5 percent hold two full-time jobs.

That’s why those with multiple jobs worked an average of 42.95 hours, compared to 39.7 hours among those working one job.

Only 325,000 people—0.2 percent of the workforce—work more than 70 hours a week. And many of those individuals do so by choice, and for praiseworthy reasons. I know, because I’ve lived it.

Growing up, my local public school had poor performance and wouldn’t meet my needs. So my mom chose to homeschool me, which is a full-time job in itself. But she also cleaned office buildings, and took on part-time positions as an administrative assistant. Meanwhile, my dad worked in IT—at one point, holding two full-time IT jobs at the same time—and cleaned office buildings. Growing up, I often helped them with cleaning work and had a janitorial job in high school.

When my wife and I were first married, I held a full-time job as a state budget analyst. She worked as an executive assistant. But we also cleaned homes and office buildings. I also worked as a driver for a car dealership, and my wife worked as a clerk. Why? We did those extra jobs to save money for a down payment on a home, to purchase a car, to save money for our first baby and choose better educational options for our children.

The free-market system allows people to improve their lot in life through hard work. In many cases, a person working two jobs is not a sign of the free market’s flaws, but proof of its value. Rather than “pity” those who choose to work hard, politicians should praise them—and the system that has so richly benefited those individuals.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

Israeli Finance Minister on 'stimulus' programs

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz had a very interesting quote yesterday, regarding "stimulus" programs. "Never sacrifice the future of your economy in order to save it in the present because you will kill both."

He further went on to say this: "If you give incentives or stimulus plans that are unsustainable for too long, they won’t work. On the contrary, if people realize that in two or three years [they] are going to pay for it, and recovery will be very slow because of this, this will be counterproductive."

It looks like those statements are playing out in the American post-Obama stimulus economy.

The Conservative View: Those Were The Good Ole Days

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner and conservative activist Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Those Were The Good Ole Days

We humans like to look back to the events of our past and reflect on a simpler time in our lives. I have fond memories of the time I spent on my father’s farm and the old swimming hole where I spent many hours with other children in our community having a good time in our nature’s swimming pool. Over the past couple of years I have observed the events taking place in our nation’s capital with all of the reckless spending of money that we don’t have. We Americans had better get a grip on reality and come to the realization that somewhere, somehow, someone is going to have to pay the bills. Far too many people do not have a grasp of economics and good fiscal stewardship. During the Bush administration there were several tax cuts that were passed; the only thing bad about them were they weren’t permanent. On January 1, 2011, if not renewed, they will expire and the American people will experience tax hikes like the world has never seen.

There are many taxes that will hit the American people, but one of the most unfair taxes will again be a burden upon all Americans. The death tax, in my opinion, goes against the very essence of what America is all about. Without the right of private property we citizens become property of the state. When I earn money I must pay taxes upon my earnings, if I use good sense with the remainder of money that I have after taxes and save it, I feel that money should be mine to do with as I please. If I choose to save it and pass it on to my decedents, it should be theirs to do with as they please. Under the Bush tax cuts this year “2010” there will be no taxes upon that money, after January 1, 2011, your heirs will be facing a up to a 55% tax on their inheritance.

The inheritance tax is only one of many. It seems to me that many people are obsessed with getting free health care and the Bush tax cuts expiring are of little interest to them. If we think that we have it bad now, it is nothing to what we will be facing if we don’t get a congress that believes in allowing people to have the right of private property. Maybe George Bush wasn’t perfect, but those were the good ole days.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.  


[MP note] At his recent town hall meeting in Muskogee, U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Muskogee), when asked about the Bush tax cuts, had this to say: "They're not Bush's tax cuts - they're your tax cuts!"

The Conservative View: Rock In A Well

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Rock In A Well

We Americans used to be a people that saved money for a rainy day. My parent instilled in me the value of hard work and the skills of saving money. In the past, our leaders and our citizens in general seemed to have a better financial head on their shoulders. For most of my life I have had faith in the value of the dollar, but I question the wisdom that our current leaders are using with our economic system. I am still a few years away from retirement, but all of us need to be concerned with the direction our currency is headed. When you look at the way our currency value has plunged over the past decades, anyone with a piggy bank should be concerned.

We’ve all seen how the euro has collapsed, shedding as much as 8% of its value in barely a month. The same forces that caused the devaluation of the euro can affect the dollar as well. Warren Buffett recently commented about cash held in U.S. dollars ... "Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn't. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value." Consider the following...

• It now takes $6,167.83 to buy what $5,000 bought just ten years ago
• $27,319.59 to buy what $5,000 bought in 1970
• $44,075.92 to buy what $5,000 bought in 1950

Even a McDonald's hamburger — which cost a mere 57 cents in 1959 — now costs $4.29, an increase of 653%, or just over 13% per year. At the current rate, a little over six years from now a Big Mac could cost twice that, or $8.58. These examples are just a sampling of what has happened over the past decades, but these devaluations can happen in a very short period of time. Whenever a country spends beyond its means and starts cranking up the printing presses, the value of your money will sink like a rock in a well. While we all get into a frenzy about the stimulus spending and wanting to get our fair share of it, we are laying the seeds of our own financial downfall. When someone retires and they sell a business, they count on those funds to provide for their needs. If our government doesn’t stop the spending binge we are in, our currency won’t be worth as much as the rock we tossed in a well. Well, maybe we will have enough to buy a pricey Big Mac.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.

The Conservative View: What a Tangled Web

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner.

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

What a Tangled Web

I have always believed that the price of anything is based upon demand and what the American public is willing to pay for it. Whether it is goods, services or labor, the law of supply and demand will find a balance of the proper value and price. What I am describing is the economic system of capitalism. Capitalism is the best system of economics that has ever been devised by man. Over the past few days there has been a huge debate on the proper pay for CEOs in some of the largest companies in America.

Our government has taken upon itself to be the entity that decides the proper salary for the people running our largest companies. I do feel that at times some of the CEOs are paid an exorbitant salary. If I am not a stock holder in that company it is really not my business. Businesses must entice people to invest in their stock for their company to grow. If they use bad judgment with the company’s money, they run the risk of people selling the stock they might have in the company and new investors taking their investment dollars elsewhere.

Our government is using the justification in setting salaries because of the bailout monies that were funneled to those companies in order to keep them open. Like a spider web that we might walk into, the more we try to get it off of us the more tangled it will get. When the government started deciding to give money to certain companies that were not run properly, they kept other companies from moving up to take the place of those that were run poorly. Now unelected bureaucrats who have never run a business or made a payroll are in charge of deciding what the proper pay scale will be for the people running those businesses.

Over the past year there have been several positions created for more bureaucrats, now they are called CZARS. Sadly some of these czars have expressed an admiration of the former leader of China “Mao Se Tung”. Even the manufacturing Czar was quoted in a speech as saying that the free market system is nonsense. He kind of agreed with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun. We Americans should be alarmed when the people that are supposed to promote our economic system express admiration for a mass murdering dictator and his economic beliefs.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.