An Indiana politician is creating a mini-scandal because, like Trump, he's being too crude and obvious with his greed and exploitation.



Under Indiana’s child labor laws, minors can work for a limited number of hours: 18 hours a week for those ages 14 and 15 and 30 hours a week for 16- and 17-year-olds. Working more than that and into late-night hours requires parental consent. A six-hour work day must include 30-minute breaks. A new bill would scrap these rules, a move that opponents fear would enable bad actors who expose minors to excessively long working hours. But there’s another factor that has raised concerns: The bill’s author, Republican state Sen. Chip Perfect, owns a ski resort — and he employs hundreds of minors — which has led to questions about his motivations.

Chip's problem is that he is obvious.

The Trump Administration has quietly loosened and deregulated child labor laws again and again without much media or political attention.

The Trump Administration has also changed the labor laws protecting overtime pay, costing American workers roughly $1.2 Billion a year.

Some in the media have pointed out how "bad actors" could take advantage of these changes in labor laws, but no one is asking "why now? what was the need?"

While you and I know the answer to those questions, those answers will be a mystery to "serious" economists.

It reminds me of something I was reading about the other day.

Back in the 1830's in England, some people wanted to reform the factories there. It seems they were disturbed by 9-year old children working 12 hours a day around dangerous machinery.

So without consulting any "serious" economist they passed the first of the Factory Acts. This law, which can only be considered as "socialism" had various elements, such as:

* Children (ages 14–18) must not work more than 12 hours a day with an hour lunch break. Note that this enabled employers to run two 'shifts' of child labour each working day in order to employ their adult male workers for longer.

* Children (ages 9–13) must not work more than 8 hours with an hour lunch break.

* Children (ages 9–13) must have two hours of education per day.

* Outlawed the employment of children under 9 in the textile industry.

* Children under 18 must not work at night.

Well the Cotton Manufacturers were not going to stand for this! So they hired a "serious" Oxford economist called Nassau William Senior, who like the economists of the 1% today, was very well respected by his peers. Together with the Manchester cotton tycoons, they wrote a letter to the President of the Board of Trade.

Mr. SENIOR then enters into an analysis, from which it appears that the whole net profit is derived from the work done in the last hour. If the factory could be kept at work an hour and a half longer, the net profit would be doubled ; if the time were reduced one hour per day, net profit would be destroyed ; and if it were reduced an hour and a half, even gross profit would go.

You see. It's simple economics.

If we don't work our children by at least 12 hours a day then the mills will be unprofitable and they will all shut down. It's scientifically proven!

Any plan, therefore, which should reduce the present comparatively short hours, must either destroy profit, or reduce Wage

If we tax the rich, raise wages, or do anything at all for the working class, it will hurt workers.

The "comparatively short hours" of 11 hour days for 12 year old children is an iron-clad law of economics. It can never change. Just like taxing capital on any level will reduce wages.

Professor Senior had a few other opinions he liked to share as well:

[The Irish Famine] "would not kill more than one million people, and that would scarcely be enough to do any good."

- Nassau William Senior