The Iron Law of Wages

"Labour, like all other things which are purchased and sold, and which may be increased or diminished in quantity, has its natural price [sic] and its market price. The natural price of labour is that price which is necessary to enable the labourers, one with another, to subsist and perpetuate their race, without either increase or dimunution."

-David Ricardo

The iron law of wages is one of the fundamental propositions underlying the traditions of classical liberalism, libertarianism, and conservatism. It is merely a economic prescription, however, because it ignores the existence of trade unions, guilds, rebellion, and revolution. It is hypocritical, because it is predicated on the assumption that government will be controlled by the rich, and that the rich will try and pass LAWS that outlaw labour's ability to combine to increase their bargaining strength. This has happened in the past and is well documented. If so, the so-called "Iron Law of Wages" is not an objective statement on the nature of wages, but a subjective statement of intent of Ricardo's class.