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Poorly performing companies going out of business in order for new, better companies to flourish is a necessary step for the creation of a healthy job market.

by harryh 9y ago

chongli 9y ago
I don't see it. Working at Toys R Us may not have been great, fine, but it sure beats pissing in bottles in a sweltering/freezing Amazon warehouse. Amazon is a lot more profitable than Toys R Us ever was but that doesn't mean they make the job market, let alone society, healthier.
- harryh 9y ago
  I bet you spend more money at Amazon than you did at Toys R Us. You might not see it, but your wallet does.
  - chongli 9y ago
    Yes, and I can complain about sweatshops in India and Bangladesh without foregoing clothes. Appeals to hypocrisy are the weakest sort of argument.
    - harryh 9y ago
      It was not intended an appeal to hypocrisy. It was demonstrating that a lot of people (including you and me) get a tremendous amount of value out of Amazon and society is healthier as a result.
smcl 9y ago
It probably feels very good to type a comment like that while imagining some invisible force gently guiding these newly unemployed people to their new careers. However in reality thousands of people have now lost their income and likely their health insurance, and will have to compete in what in many places is a pretty brutal and not at all healthy job market. It sucks, and there’s nothing you or I can do about it ... but pretending that this is actually a good thing for anyone but a handful of rich guys who will have made out like bandits on the whole debacle is just fantasy.
- harryh 9y ago
  The job market is actually pretty healthy right now. Unemployment is nearing a 45 year low and prime age labor force participation rate has been on the upswing for about 3 years. We're also starting to see some growth in wages which is nice. And sure, it's weird to contrast a theory of firm destruction being necessary for a vibrant economy with the reality of individuals you can point to losing their jobs but the fact remains that doesn't really distract from the truth of my statements. Just because it's a bit harder to point at specific individuals who will benefit from the demise of Toys R Us doesn't mean the link isn't real.
  - munificent 9y ago
    > prime age labor force participation rate has been on the upswing for about 3 years. ...which is still lower than it's been since 1986 [1], and is significantly lower than Australia, Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, and Sweden [2]. [1]: https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet (set from to 1948 and click "Go") [2]: https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/raw-data-the-prime-age-labor-force-participation-rate/ https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/raw-data-the-...
- airstrike 9y ago
  Economics isn't something you can just fabricate an opinion on. There are countless academics who have actually studied the labor market who would correct you if you would spend any time trying to learn rather than pontificate. This isn't subjective.
  - kelleoeo 9y ago
    Actually economics are exactly that Capitalism have built assumptions to its origins that protect capital holder: divine right was often used in the era of its origin The US Constitution considered landowners above others due to them contemporary belief of divine rights Our contemporary system is built upon historical record There’s historical record that plainly shows humans deciding to write a law this way because it favors company X or ideology Y There’s plain historical record that shows obstructionism to social evolution in favor of entrenched players And scholars and academics measure THOSE results So your argument is based upon built in bullshit Economists have been PAID to peddle bullshit, corrupting their facts My god I can’t even. Is this really what they teach in college now? Economics and physics are one and the same despite a ... there are decades of government documents detailing their collusion and manipulation of invention and investment for the benefit of power players But yeah our contemporary economy is a greenfield implementation lol

Poorly performing companies going out of business in order for new, better companies to flourish is a necessary step for the creation of a healthy job market.

by harryh 9y ago

Poorly performing companies going out of business in order for new, better companies to flourish is a necessary step for the creation of a healthy job market.

chongli 9y ago

I don't see it. Working at Toys R Us may not have been great, fine, but it sure beats pissing in bottles in a sweltering/freezing Amazon warehouse. Amazon is a lot more profitable than Toys R Us ever was but that doesn't mean they make the job market, let alone society, healthier.

harryh 9y ago
I bet you spend more money at Amazon than you did at Toys R Us. You might not see it, but your wallet does.
- chongli 9y ago
  Yes, and I can complain about sweatshops in India and Bangladesh without foregoing clothes. Appeals to hypocrisy are the weakest sort of argument.
  - harryh 9y ago
    It was not intended an appeal to hypocrisy. It was demonstrating that a lot of people (including you and me) get a tremendous amount of value out of Amazon and society is healthier as a result.

smcl 9y ago

It probably feels very good to type a comment like that while imagining some invisible force gently guiding these newly unemployed people to their new careers. However in reality thousands of people have now lost their income and likely their health insurance, and will have to compete in what in many places is a pretty brutal and not at all healthy job market. It sucks, and there’s nothing you or I can do about it ... but pretending that this is actually a good thing for anyone but a handful of rich guys who will have made out like bandits on the whole debacle is just fantasy.

harryh 9y ago
The job market is actually pretty healthy right now. Unemployment is nearing a 45 year low and prime age labor force participation rate has been on the upswing for about 3 years. We're also starting to see some growth in wages which is nice. And sure, it's weird to contrast a theory of firm destruction being necessary for a vibrant economy with the reality of individuals you can point to losing their jobs but the fact remains that doesn't really distract from the truth of my statements. Just because it's a bit harder to point at specific individuals who will benefit from the demise of Toys R Us doesn't mean the link isn't real.
- munificent 9y ago
  > prime age labor force participation rate has been on the upswing for about 3 years. ...which is still lower than it's been since 1986 [1], and is significantly lower than Australia, Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, and Sweden [2]. [1]: https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet (set from to 1948 and click "Go") [2]: https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/raw-data-the-prime-age-labor-force-participation-rate/ https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/12/raw-data-the-...
airstrike 9y ago
Economics isn't something you can just fabricate an opinion on. There are countless academics who have actually studied the labor market who would correct you if you would spend any time trying to learn rather than pontificate. This isn't subjective.
- kelleoeo 9y ago
  Actually economics are exactly that Capitalism have built assumptions to its origins that protect capital holder: divine right was often used in the era of its origin The US Constitution considered landowners above others due to them contemporary belief of divine rights Our contemporary system is built upon historical record There’s historical record that plainly shows humans deciding to write a law this way because it favors company X or ideology Y There’s plain historical record that shows obstructionism to social evolution in favor of entrenched players And scholars and academics measure THOSE results So your argument is based upon built in bullshit Economists have been PAID to peddle bullshit, corrupting their facts My god I can’t even. Is this really what they teach in college now? Economics and physics are one and the same despite a ... there are decades of government documents detailing their collusion and manipulation of invention and investment for the benefit of power players But yeah our contemporary economy is a greenfield implementation lol