Related: David Henderson has more on Gates’s point about how the minimum wage is not well targeted to reach poor people, and on how the impact on consumers of things like fast food is itself somewhat impoverishing. William Poole at Cato begins with the oft-repeated War of Economists’ Letters over whether minimum wage hikes do a lot of damage to employment or only a little, and then turns to the ethical questions. Tyler Cowen exposes some of the holes in the relatively new argument that the existing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) unfairly subsidizes employers and that minimum wage hikes are somehow an efficient way to recapture part of the transfer. More links: Twitter hashtag #CatoMinWage; James Dorn, Cato (“Hong Kong grew rich without a minimum wage because it undertook the reforms that fuel growth”). And on layoffs following an arbitrated doubling of wages at a New York City casino: “This just in — demand curves slope down.” [Coyote] Plus: Teen employment after minimum wage hikes: “Is there any other issue where the data conforms so strongly to basic economic intuition, and yet is widely written off as a coincidence?” [Kevin Erdmann via Tyler Cowen]

Bill Gates on minimum wage hikes is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

• If you’re claiming benefits for “total and permanent” disability it’s probably best not to enter bodybuilding competitions [Boston Globe and more, firefighter Albert Arroyo] More: GruntDoc;
• From 1884 Montreal: actionable to snub a parishioner while taking collection in church? [Volokh]
• Follow the bouncing venue in lawsuits against Rick Frenkel and Cisco over Patent Troll Tracker blog [Texas Lawyer “Tex Parte” blog]
• Individual liberty was one reason Bill Gates was free to earn his billions, too bad he’s not doing more to advance it with his philanthropy [NYTimes, Bloomberg and “tobacco control”]
• Andrew Giuliani, son of the mayor, is suing Duke University for kicking him off its golf team [Newsday, Henican] More: complaint at Popehat;
• New at Point of Law: AAJ, formerly ATLA, has its convention in Philadelphia (more); bogeyman of supposedly ultraconservative Roberts Court; why must “trophy” federal courthouses have such soulless and uncomfortable design?; Congress gunning for arbitration; too bad NYT’s enthusiasm for transparent public contracting on corporate monitors doesn’t carry over to other lawyer-hiring; the Delaware advantage in court organization; as we keep asking, what happened to Ron Motley’s yacht? and much more;
• Dr. Anna Pou, New Orleans cancer surgeon whose prosecution after Katrina roused intense controversy, recounts her experience [AP via Folo]
• “Unreal world of greed”: California appeals court throws out $88 million fee-arbitration award to Milberg Weiss and other firms following challenge to “smog impact fees” [six years ago on Overlawyered]

July 25 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system