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So What Are The Effects Of Increasing Minimum Wages? Any Econ 101 Student Can Tell You The Answer: The Higher Wage Reduces The Quantity Of Labor Demanded, And Hence Leads To Unemployment.

Now, It’s True That Some Of The Protesters Are Oddly Dressed Or Have Silly-sounding Slogans, Which Is Inevitable Given The Open Character Of The Events. But So What? I, At Least, Am A Lot More Offended By The Sight Of Exquisitely Tailored Plutocrats, Who Owe Their Continued Wealth To Government Guarantees, Whining That President Obama Has Said Mean Things About Them Than I Am By The Sight Of Ragtag Young People Denouncing Consumerism.

Many People ... Prefer To Describe Themselves As Progressives Rather Than Liberals. To Some Extent That's A Response To The Decades-long Propaganda Campaign Conducted By Movement Conservatives, Which Has Been Quite Successful In Making Americans Disdain The Word Liberal But Much Less Successful In Reducing Support For Liberal Policies.

On The Political As On The Economic Front It's Important Not To Fall Into The "not As Bad As" Trap. High Unemployment Isn't O.k. Just Because It Hasn't Hit 1933 Levels; Ominous Political Trends Shouldn’t Be Dismissed Just Because There’s No Hitler In Sight.

Generous Unemployment Benefits Can Increase Both Structural And Frictional Unemployment. So Government Policies Intended To Help Workers Can Have The Undesirable Side Effect Of Raising The Natural Rate Of Unemployment.