'Hell to Pay: How the Suppression of Wages is Destroying America'
PUBLISHED: Thu, MAY 25th 2023 @ 12:50 pm EDT by Jared Culver
In his new book, Hell to Pay: How the Suppression of Wages is Destroying America, Michael Lind raises a flaming sword at the three-headed monster he identifies as devastating the American workforce. In a brisk 179 pages (excluding the afterword), Mr. Lind makes an easy-to-follow case for how de-unionization, outsourcing, and mass immigration have converged to disempower and impoverish American workers. Readers may not be surprised to learn I will be focusing primarily on his arguments regarding mass immigration and how employers use it to abuse and exploit workers for profit.
However, I cannot recommend the book, in toto, highly enough for anyone desperately stuck in a losing situation in the workforce and seeking to understand why. In an age where the predominant positions expressed in the press, politics, and academia are in full-throated support of globalization, free trade, and open borders, Lind's common sense book somehow seems revolutionary. In reality, it is restating old truths that were learned the hard way, but are now sadly forgotten.
The basic idea that forms the foundation for the book is a dismantling of "human capital" theory that dominates much of the thinking of the professional class. In layman's terms, the theory states that, in the free market, a person's wage is based on their output. If you're making minimum wage, that's how much you are worth. If you want to earn more, then "learn to code." The CEO making a million times more than the janitor? Well, that is just the will of the invisible hand. This is obviously false, because we live in a dynamic world with imperfect people. People are discriminated against. People are exploited. Fortunately, Lind identifies how wages are actually determined, which is by bargaining power. If employees have leverage, like in a tight labor market or in a collective bargaining unit, they can demand higher wages. From this theory, Lind demonstrates how de-unionization, outsourcing, and mass immigration have obliterated worker bargaining power.
https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/hell-pay-how-suppression-wages-destroying-america
