The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at WSJ written by the editor, James Taranto.
They Can’t Talk
“What Can Bristlecone Pines Tell Us About the Gulf Stream? Um, Nothing.”—headline, PowerLineBlog, March 30
He Can’t Afford to Buy a Clue
Steve Benen, who writes for MSNBC hostess Rachel Maddow’s blog, got awfully confused yesterday:
Congressional Republicans are in a position to block every effort to raise the federal minimum wage, but the economy is moving on without them.
Some of the nation’s largest retailers—Gap, Ikea, and Wal-Mart, among others—have already raised their company’s minimum wages. Today, another major retailer joined the club. . . .
Remember, as was the case with Wal-Mart, this is a done deal—it’s a private-sector move, which will occur regardless of Congress’ wishes. . . .
Update/Correction: The second paragraph originally suggested GOP lawmakers might somehow disapprove of private-sector businesses raising their own workers’ wages, which was a foolish way to put this. Obviously, Republican lawmakers, like everyone else, want businesses to raise wages whenever they want to raise wages. I’ve edited the above text accordingly.
The left’s default assumption is that anything good is better if it’s mandated by government. Don’t believe us? If you think we’re exaggerating, here’s the New York Times’s Mark Bittman, approvingly quoting a new federal report: “ ‘Strategies are needed to encourage the U.S. population to drink water when they are thirsty.’ Imagine if that were official policy.”
(Note: The excerpts above are from the March 31 & Feb. 26 BOTW archives.) For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
