Should us Workers be Guaranteed more Vacation Time – No
Should US workers be guaranteed more vacation time? Guaranteed by whom?
The obvious implication here is that it will be guaranteed and enforced by government. Offices will have to be set up to monitor compliance, or the additional duty will be added to already existing offices. In either case, the government gets a little more bloated. Then the government gets to go around ensuring compliance, levying fees, and arresting those who don't pay the fees for violation of government policy. This is just on the government side.
The popular argument for government intervention in private affairs is always based on something that says, "Look at how Europe operates!" That's a good idea. Let's look at how Europe operates and ask ourselves if we really want to emulate them. French and German unemployment rates have only recently left double digits, by loosening its policy hold on labor. Whereas Ireland, with a hands-off approach to labor, has had phenomenal growth. Recent German economic growth is more of an adjustment to where it should have been, had wage control, pensions, and other benefits (to include vacation) not been so vigorously controlled by government policy.
What is the relationship between government control and stagnation? Socialization always has a parasitical draining effect on economic growth. The greater the degree of socialization, the greater the drain. European economies have been mixed, more socialist than ours, and they have seen the consequences. We ourselves have been drained by similar policies. The stagnation in the United States during the 60s and 70s connected directly to our drift toward collectivism, and our economic revival in the 80s was, as Britain's, a consequence of government getting out of the way.
Why is that? The real negative consequences of socialism, which includes government guarantees of private workers' vacation time, have a bankrupt philosophy at their root. Guiding philosophy matters, and philosophy has real practical consequences. Are people free and autonomous and able to deal with the real world on their own terms? Or are people untrustworthy and incapable and need to be coddled with government guarantees?
A free man enters into employment willingly, to further his own survival and benefit, and his employer, also free, enters willingly as well. Both understand the terms of the agreement, and the trade is beneficial to both. If it is not mutually agreeable, then both are free to seek arrangements with others. Employers can find other employees who will accept less vacation time, and employees can find other employers who will offer more vacation time. The market provides a balance, and the arrangement ends up being optimal for both parties.
Government guarantees would violate this optimal condition in favor of the employee and at the expense of the employer. Having violated the employer's rights, we have now increased the real cost of hiring employees. Only employees who are productive enough to justify the greater vacation time will be able to get in. The rest will have to go elsewhere or take pay cuts. Is this the social justice you are looking for? Employers have rights too, as they are citizens like everyone else, and all parties should be able to come to the table as equals, and be able to specify what they themselves are willing to agree to.
Any government intervention in that process will result in greater unemployment, decreased wages, and a reduced quality of life compared to what could be achieved. Observe France and Germany and Great Britain at their most socialistic, and you'll see these consequences in action. Capitalism is not only the most efficient and productive system, it is also the most just system with the greatest benefit for all people.
