Sick Employees
In my Spanish class yesterday, Maria was telling me about all the government mandated paid vacation time employers must give to employees. There’s a minimum of 2 weeks right off the bat after hiring. If you’re a student, you’re granted 12 days per year to be used at your discretion to take exams or study. When you get married, you’re granted 12 days for the wedding, honeymoon, etc. Sick time must be paid and I believe it’s 12 days as well. If a woman has a child, she receives 45 days vacation on both sides of the pregnancy and the government gives her a small payment as well. There are more. And trust me, every worker in Argentina is well aware of their vacation “rights”.
I realize these are Argentine laws, but it got me thinking because the socialism I see here is a glimpse of the United States in the future. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how businesses do it. How they put up with lawsuits, harassment claims, government regulation, investigations, over taxation, accusations of gouging, etc. is beyond me at times. They are put down in the press as greedy while the worker is upheld as moral and a victim of “The Man”. Business provides us with jobs not only to feed our families, but a chance to save for the future and create a better life than anyone else has ever enjoyed in the history of this planet. This work is a gift and an opportunity, yet so many view it as an entitlement.
It used to be that business was about making money. Unfortunately, it seems more like a health care provider, daycare center, government tax fund-raiser, or whatever other “give-me because I want it” attitude we can come up with. Emotions, not reason rule much of our business policy. Contrary to popular opinion, businesses do not have an unlimited amount of money to meet the wishes of every employee. They cannot arbitrarily decide to set prices in order to be more “fair” to the buying public or better compensate their employees. Everything has a cost and employee benefits are no different. They are part of the package offered to attract the best and brightest employees away from competition. They are not a right. Business is about earning a profit and jobs are a byproduct of that pursuit. But when business stops being about making money, we’re sunk. The more money they make, the better off we are. And the less they make, the worse off we are. Everything has a cost. What we are getting are disguised entitlement programs. Rather than raising taxes to pay for these things, they’re being sluffed off to employers and ultimately to employees in the form of lower wages.
It might not be emotional or sexy, but economics is consistent and when examined outside of our emotional prejudices, not that complicated. I urge you to read this article from The Heritage Foundation regarding mandatory sick pay and this article about abuses that take place in a mandatory system. They reason through better alternatives while also examining the consequences of government imposed sick pay.
What scares me more than anything about seeing socialism on parade here or in the U.S. is the absolute ignorance in regards to economics. Those with market-based solutions are viewed as cold and uncaring while proponents of government mandates are seen as caring and compassionate. But this “caring” costs the government nothing, slows down the economy, and always costs somebody else something. There’s a phrase that goes something like “A gift that costs you nothing is no gift at all.” Yet many see government as the bestower of gifts when it passes regulations. How someone can be seen as compassionate for giving away what is not theirs is beyond me. And what’s worse, those who make the rest of our lives better by giving us jobs and providing us with cheaper goods and services are seen as villains (i.e. Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, others).
Reason is what makes me a conservative. I read and look at what happens in a free market. Then I read and look at what happens in a socialistic system. After that, I take a quick glimpse at history to examine what has succeeded and what has failed. Finally, I compare the two and draw a conclusion. Sure free markets have their problems. But so do socialist ones. Free markets have greed, but they also allow unparalleled liberty, lift people up, and allow them to follow a dream. Socialist systems have greed in leadership and envy and poverty among the citizenry. They are either totalitarian and rule with an iron fist or they lack the rule of law in some or many parts of society (as I see here). Argentina is not as bad off as many other countries. But trust me, our free market is a gift.
