One nation, off the clock

During the last presidential transition, George W. Bush made his first political misstep with the nomination of Linda Chavez for secretary of labor. A conservative columnist, Chavez had a long paper trail of arguing that the “glass ceiling” didn’t exist and calling women who bring workplace sexual harassment suits “crybabies.” But perhaps her most bizarre position of all was her opposition—on principle—to the minimum wage. Chavez subscribed to the Chicago School canard (debunked by empirical evidence) that minimum wages increase unemployment, hurting the very workers they are supposed to help.