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#122 The Freedom to Work
#122 The Freedom to Work
The California Legislature is considering restricting labor in a way that violates five of the ten Biblical Commandments of Economics. They want to limit work to 32 hours a week.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote a column this week titled “California’s French Four-Day Workweek.” The article says, “A bill moving through the California legislature would shorten the normal workweek from 40 to 32 hours. Workers who put in more than 32 hours in a week would have to be paid time-and-a-half. And get this: Employers would be prohibited from reducing workers’ current pay rate, so they would be paid the same for working 20% less.”
Here’s how the French get mentioned in the headline: They tried this in the year 2000. There was high unemployment, so they thought they would spread the work around a little. My freshmen at Dallas Baptist University could predict the disaster that resulted. It forced the best producers to work less. Seems like we want the best to work MORE, not less.
LeBron James plays more minutes than the last guy on the Lakers bench. Would the California legislature require that all 12 of the Lakers play the same number of minutes? Would they require that all 26 of the Oakland Athletics players have the same number of at-bats? That they all throw the same number of pitches? Matter of fact, why doesn’t the California legislature use this law themselves: They could require each legislator to submit the same number of bills for consideration.
When Sergiy Saydometov and I wrote Biblical Economic Policy, we performed a little systematic theology and came up with ten Biblical Commandments of Economics. The proposal from the California legislature violates at least five of them:
Freedom
Revelation 3:20 is the key scripture that we found to indicate the Christian idea of freedom. It reads, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Freedom. If we are free to accept or reject the invitation of God, then it seems like we should have as much freedom as possible in our economic lives. Not perfect freedom, because we have a fallen nature. But we certainly should be free to choose the number of hours we work each week.
The California legislators have cited Microsoft’s four-day work week in Japan, as support for their proposal. But notice, Microsoft had the FREEDOM to enact that policy, without being ordered by the government.
In podcast #113 titled People Should be Free, I unpack more details about the intersection of Christianity and Economics: Freedom. The California legislature wants to control labor. That didn’t work out well during slavery when the supply of labor was controlled, and it won’t work out well trying to control demand either. Control of labor always leads to dependence, and as this guy, Frederich von Hayek points out, it puts you on The Road to Serfdom.
The California legislature is punishing success: The rule would apply only to companies with more than 500 employees. Here we go again: If you’re providing enough consumer surplus to yo...
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By The Christian Economist | Dave Arnott
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#122 The Freedom to Work
The California Legislature is considering restricting labor in a way that violates five of the ten Biblical Commandments of Economics. They want to limit work to 32 hours a week.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote a column this week titled “California’s French Four-Day Workweek.” The article says, “A bill moving through the California legislature would shorten the normal workweek from 40 to 32 hours. Workers who put in more than 32 hours in a week would have to be paid time-and-a-half. And get this: Employers would be prohibited from reducing workers’ current pay rate, so they would be paid the same for working 20% less.”
Here’s how the French get mentioned in the headline: They tried this in the year 2000. There was high unemployment, so they thought they would spread the work around a little. My freshmen at Dallas Baptist University could predict the disaster that resulted. It forced the best producers to work less. Seems like we want the best to work MORE, not less.
LeBron James plays more minutes than the last guy on the Lakers bench. Would the California legislature require that all 12 of the Lakers play the same number of minutes? Would they require that all 26 of the Oakland Athletics players have the same number of at-bats? That they all throw the same number of pitches? Matter of fact, why doesn’t the California legislature use this law themselves: They could require each legislator to submit the same number of bills for consideration.
When Sergiy Saydometov and I wrote Biblical Economic Policy, we performed a little systematic theology and came up with ten Biblical Commandments of Economics. The proposal from the California legislature violates at least five of them:
Freedom
Revelation 3:20 is the key scripture that we found to indicate the Christian idea of freedom. It reads, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Freedom. If we are free to accept or reject the invitation of God, then it seems like we should have as much freedom as possible in our economic lives. Not perfect freedom, because we have a fallen nature. But we certainly should be free to choose the number of hours we work each week.
The California legislators have cited Microsoft’s four-day work week in Japan, as support for their proposal. But notice, Microsoft had the FREEDOM to enact that policy, without being ordered by the government.
In podcast #113 titled People Should be Free, I unpack more details about the intersection of Christianity and Economics: Freedom. The California legislature wants to control labor. That didn’t work out well during slavery when the supply of labor was controlled, and it won’t work out well trying to control demand either. Control of labor always leads to dependence, and as this guy, Frederich von Hayek points out, it puts you on The Road to Serfdom.
The California legislature is punishing success: The rule would apply only to companies with more than 500 employees. Here we go again: If you’re providing enough consumer surplus to yo...