4 ms·

Isn't this a lot like Socialism? It's akin to deciding on the price of a pair of gloves based on what kinds of people need it, how much they would use it, how l

Isn't this a lot like Socialism? It's akin to deciding on the price of a pair of gloves based on what kinds of people need it, how much they would use it, how long before they need a replacement, etc. But instead of gloves, we're trying to decide on the cost of labor. I know I'm dancing around a thorny issue, but I don't think this idea works, in general. Why not just let the market decide?

ebg13 7y ago
> Why not just let the market decide? The market decides on wage stagnation while costs keep increasing and profit goes exclusively to the upper class. For the vast majority of people, the market doesn't do a very good job.
chrstphrknwtn 7y ago
This is letting the market decide isn’t it? This calculator would have no region-specific wages if the USA were the kind of socialism (I think) you’re talking about. Figuring out how much an individual (or family) needs to make to survive doesn’t need to say anything about the social, economic or political ideology. As far as I can tell it’s just saying “if you live here, basic survival costs this” Edit: Italics formatting.
lucozade 7y ago
This isn’t trying to decide the cost of labour. It’s trying to put an approximate low band on the cost of living. And the market does decide on the cost of living. This is attempting to quantify that decision into a practical metric. Not sure why you’d think this has anything to do with socialism.
roenxi 7y ago
A less-discussed issue with capitalism and socialism - it is completely possible for a clever and motivated person to work out what 'should' be in a specific or even a general instance. The issue is that there is no before-the-damage-is-done mechanism to determine if a given person's assertions are correct or not, so any system that uses those assertions axiomatically will likely fail. It isn't socialism for this Professor to point out what the living wage would be. If an employee (or employer for that matter) wants to use these figures when negotiating a wage that is hopefully good for everyone. If the government is going to mandate minimum wages based on what Amy Glasmeier thinks is fair, it will turn out that she isn't very good at adapting to changing circumstances and the huge variety of personal circumstance that appears in practice. Mid-range case is she would become inaccurate (or corrupt!) after a few months or years and start setting wages too low or high. That would also be socialism and would also lead to bad outcomes vs. just letting people do what looks like a good idea to them.

ebg13 7y ago

> Why not just let the market decide? The market decides on wage stagnation while costs keep increasing and profit goes exclusively to the upper class. For the vast majority of people, the market doesn't do a very good job.

chrstphrknwtn 7y ago

This is letting the market decide isn’t it? This calculator would have no region-specific wages if the USA were the kind of socialism (I think) you’re talking about. Figuring out how much an individual (or family) needs to make to survive doesn’t need to say anything about the social, economic or political ideology. As far as I can tell it’s just saying “if you live here, basic survival costs this” Edit: Italics formatting.

lucozade 7y ago

This isn’t trying to decide the cost of labour. It’s trying to put an approximate low band on the cost of living. And the market does decide on the cost of living. This is attempting to quantify that decision into a practical metric. Not sure why you’d think this has anything to do with socialism.

roenxi 7y ago

A less-discussed issue with capitalism and socialism - it is completely possible for a clever and motivated person to work out what 'should' be in a specific or even a general instance. The issue is that there is no before-the-damage-is-done mechanism to determine if a given person's assertions are correct or not, so any system that uses those assertions axiomatically will likely fail. It isn't socialism for this Professor to point out what the living wage would be. If an employee (or employer for that matter) wants to use these figures when negotiating a wage that is hopefully good for everyone. If the government is going to mandate minimum wages based on what Amy Glasmeier thinks is fair, it will turn out that she isn't very good at adapting to changing circumstances and the huge variety of personal circumstance that appears in practice. Mid-range case is she would become inaccurate (or corrupt!) after a few months or years and start setting wages too low or high. That would also be socialism and would also lead to bad outcomes vs. just letting people do what looks like a good idea to them.