Modern conservatives hate free-market economics.  They claim they’re for it, but look at what they do, not what they say.  They continue to push protectionist trade policies, and they supported Donald Trump’s lost trade war that saw our trade deficit increase a net $70 billion in his first three years in office on top of the tens of billions in subsidies he gave to the steel and ag industries to compensate their shareholders for his disastrous policy.

The Fox propaganda network’s business channel also exhibits its hatred of the Free Market when, according to its rules, the price of things goes up as its supply drops; that’s a basic theory of the policy, “the law of supply and demand.”  And boy, those conservatives really get annoyed when the thing in short supply is labor, and the labor shortage leads to higher worker wages.  That’s something conservatives cannot support–corporate profits being wasted on worker pay–and they want you to know how bad it is that workers are being paid more.

“But what’s troubling about this low jobless rate is the rapid rate of wage inflation,” a talking head on Fox Business asserts, arguing that people making more money is a bad thing for the economy.  “It’s now running at four-and-a-half percent,” he laments as he goes on about how a tighter labor market in the future will lead to “faster wage growth and that’s going to be bad news for inflation,” saying that wage growth must be cut by at least one-third to get inflation under control.  Because nothing says “fighting for the votes of America’s working class” like decrying higher take-home pay.  (Oh, and 4.5% wage growth is still higher than the 3.1% inflation rate, meaning working families enjoy greater purchasing power.