Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs discriminate, so they can't survive the market.

President Biden is requiring all federal agencies to create a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team.  It seems like the Dems want to distribute everything equally, except votes.  Think about their claim, “Help me stomp my opponent so I can make everything equal.”  Well, how about sharing your votes?

The most powerful man in the world is talking about equity again.  The hypocrisy is just so rich.  If he wants equity, why would he ever sign an Executive order?  Wouldn’t it be more equitable to allow Congress to make laws?  And, the word “equity” is being misrepresented in these presidential mandates.  I unpack more of this in podcast #90 titled Equality vs Equity.

Equity should mean “the quality of being fair and impartial.” However, the administration has a plan to award 15 percent of federal procurement dollars to small businesses “owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.” So, the same opportunities WON’T be given to all groups. The government already has a procurement procedure in place that awards contracts to the most efficient companies. The economics textbook I use at Dallas Baptist University is authored by Gregory Mankiw and he makes it very clear: You can distribute goods and services efficiently or equally, but not both.

The president even had the gall to command that DEI folks be given higher-level positions.  Get it?  He’s demanding higher status for people who are supposed to produce equity.  Kinda like the Inflation Reduction Act that increased spending.  This creates more hierarchy to reduce hierarchy. 

Here’s a thought exercise I’ve explained many times in class: If it were true that equally qualified women are being paid less than men, and whites more than blacks, you would expect profit-seeking companies would hire women of color in order to gain an advantage on the cost of labor.

The fact that this isn’t happening suggests that the pay gap claims are NOT true. And if the claim isn’t true, government money allotted to remedy this situation is money poorly spent.  But, that’s what the government often does.

Policies that Promote Production

History has shown that it’s free markets that grow economies and reduce poverty. Government regulations and spending like the DEI program, simply transfer money from taxpayers to nonpayers, which creates stagnation, not growth.

Long-term, the only way for people to get out of poverty is by increasing the value of the product of their labor. Transfers don’t do this.

DEI is not DEI

A friend, whose company has been negatively affected by DEI, explained that the DEI officer in his company was a white woman.  When she was publicly accused of not being qualified – that is – she was not black, she defended herself by explaining that she had adopted black children.  Ok, hold it: Just the fact that she was accused, and then, that she felt she had to defend her identity with blacks: Both of those are indications of a LACK of DEI. 

We should expect DEI officers to reflect the diversity of the American population: About 65% Caucasian, 13% black, about 15% Hispanic,