4 ms·
So, the alternative is what? Allow wages to move toward zero? Then what?
by ap22213 11y ago
So, the alternative is what? Allow wages to move toward zero? Then what?
- theseatoms 11y agoA global minimum income. Or the strictly-superior-to-a-minimum-wage Earned Income Tax Credit [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_income_tax_credit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_income_tax_credit
- creshal 11y agoWhy is it superior? That looks a lot like making the government subsidize worker exploitation.
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoHow does a negative income tax subsidize any of that? If anything, it's much more neutral regarding wage labor (since it's based on the broader definition of income in tax codes) than, obviously, minimum wage mandates.
- Yrlec 11y agohttp://www.wsj.com/articles/better-than-raising-the-minimum-wage-1432249927 http://www.wsj.com/articles/better-than-raising-the-minimum-...
- eru 11y agoAllow competetion to set the wages, just like all other prices. Singapore doesn't have a minimum, and wages there are not zero. (Neither did Germany until recently.)
- crdoconnor 11y agoSingapore wages aren't zero but they are really low for the non-managerial classes (i.e. the people who do all the work) and oversized for the managerial classes. It's about 3x the size of San Francisco and clearly has aspirations of becoming a similar center for startups but with the prevailing wages for the people who do all the actual work so low the quality of what is produced is usually shitty. It's not a place you'd want to emulate.
- latch 11y agoNot all other prices are set by competition. There's much manipulation through things like subsidies, tariffs, tax incentives, and bailouts. Also, having lived in Singapore for years, it's a wonderful city and I love it, but the wage story isn't necessarily one to mimic. It might look grand as a foreigner, but your cleaning lady is probably sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with 16+ other women and doesn't see her family more than a few times a year.
- eru 11y agoAnd, yet, she still makes more money than in her home country.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoAnd spends almost all of it on rent.
- eru 11y agoAt least they are building up like crazy. No NIMBYs there.