Leave it to the market

Leave it to the market

Cry Wolf Quotes

Living wage proposals are economically unfair because they change the basis on which our economy operates. Instead of allowing the market forces to determine pay, living wages put the interests of employees above all other consideration…and they base wages on what the worker wants instead of on the value of work performed.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce, amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court of Louisiana against the New Orleans living wage ordinance.
11/21/2004 | Full Details | Law(s): Living Wage

Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families don't really exist.

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Tom Delay (R-TX), Congressional Record.
04/23/1996 | Full Details | Law(s): Minimum Wage

Many options already exist to provide unemployed persons with health insurance or protection against health care costs. These include: continuous coverage provisions in many employer-paid health care plans; the conversion privilege offered in many of these same plans: coverage under a spouse’s or other relative’s plan; and the social safety net, Medicaid.

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Jan Peter Ozga, Director of Health Care, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Senate Finance Committee.
04/21/1983 | Full Details | Law(s): COBRA

It makes business sense to have them clean. We want them to be sanitary, and expect them to be sanitary, and will do anything in reason to make them sanitary. The only question is whether it will not lead to complications, to make the Secretary of Agriculture the judge as to what is sanitary. He might be disposed to call in some outside talent…and we most certainly question the qualifications of that talent.

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Thomas Wilson, spokesperson for the meatpacking industry, Testimony, House Agricultural committee.