6 ms·

Just like anything worthwhile is done: through free market competition. Build a successful startup, make some nice money and attract the best in the business to

by nickpp 6y ago

Just like anything worthwhile is done: through free market competition. Build a successful startup, make some nice money and attract the best in the business to work for you by making them eye-popping offers. This will make your competitors react by raising their pay and with it the whole market. It’s how Silicon Valley reached those salaries after all...

cies 6y ago
> Just like anything worthwhile is done: through free market competition. Dont know where to begin unpacking the falsehood of this. Maybe a counter question serves best: how is non-competitive behavior not worthwhile?
- toolz 6y ago
  I can't speak for OP, but I can say that OP never said non-competitive behavior isn't worthwhile. The question being answered is how to increase salaries, not how to make something worthwhile.
- throwaway3699 6y ago
  Note that free market competition doesn't preclude cooperation within its framework. It's a bit of a misnomer.
arcticbull 6y ago
I mean, it's not a great way to raise the salaries of retail and restaurant workers. It's also a terrible way of providing healthcare. Ultimately it's more a question of supply and demand as to why US SWEs are paid so much.
- eloff 6y ago
  This is it. It's not your other comment about equality. It's basic supply and demand.
- nackerhewz 6y ago
  The SWEs will buy more stuff and eat out more, increasing the demand for retail and restaurant workers. It does trickle down, but due to continuous influx (because qualification requirements are low) of new potential retail and restaurant workers you don't notice on an individual level but on a globalized level it matters because those new retail/restaurant workers have improved themselves.
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  - deleted 6y ago
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- ByteJockey 6y ago
  It's a pretty great way to provide healthcare, actually. My understanding is that european countries have pretty significant income taxes.
  - arcticbull 6y ago
    You may want to take another look. Healthcare in the US is twice as expensive per capita as most European countries while the healthcare system ranks near the bottom of the OECD [2, 3] and 11th out of 11 in a recent commonwealth fund survey [1]. For the first time, life expectancy in the US is actually going down. Even the best area identified in [2, 3] re: 5-year mortality for cancers is misleading as the US notoriously over-tests early on, detecting disease early, but isn't actually more effective at treating the disease, and folks die at the same time as they would in European systems. This naturally makes the 5-year mortality rates look good, but doesn't change the fact you're still gonna die at the same time. While admittedly cherry-picked, it's also the only developed country in the world where mother's mortality rates during childbirth are rising. A mother is 5X as likely to die giving birth in America as compared to Canada (where healthcare costs half per capita and covers everyone). Also, consider the median amount of tax collected in the US (excluding private $800/month tax your employer pays to insurance companies on your behalf) is actually higher sometimes than Canada now. The top marginal rates are also higher, consistently. [4] [1] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2017/new-11-country-study-us-health-care-system-has-widest-gap-between-people-higher https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2017/new-11-c... [2] https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/health-at-a-glance-united-states-EN.pdf https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/health-at-a-glance-united-... [3] http://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance-19991312.htm http://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance-19991312.htm [4] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/canadians-may-pay-more-taxes-than-americans-but-theres-a-catch.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/canadians-may-pay-more-taxes...
    - ByteJockey 6y ago
      And you think that raising salaries would ruin this somehow? Otherwise it seems like raising salaries would help here, since the system would be better funded. Unless of course raising salaries somehow screws up the system.

by nickpp 6y ago

cies 6y ago

> Just like anything worthwhile is done: through free market competition. Dont know where to begin unpacking the falsehood of this. Maybe a counter question serves best: how is non-competitive behavior not worthwhile?

toolz 6y ago
I can't speak for OP, but I can say that OP never said non-competitive behavior isn't worthwhile. The question being answered is how to increase salaries, not how to make something worthwhile.
throwaway3699 6y ago
Note that free market competition doesn't preclude cooperation within its framework. It's a bit of a misnomer.

arcticbull 6y ago

I mean, it's not a great way to raise the salaries of retail and restaurant workers. It's also a terrible way of providing healthcare. Ultimately it's more a question of supply and demand as to why US SWEs are paid so much.

eloff 6y ago
This is it. It's not your other comment about equality. It's basic supply and demand.
nackerhewz 6y ago
The SWEs will buy more stuff and eat out more, increasing the demand for retail and restaurant workers. It does trickle down, but due to continuous influx (because qualification requirements are low) of new potential retail and restaurant workers you don't notice on an individual level but on a globalized level it matters because those new retail/restaurant workers have improved themselves.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
ByteJockey 6y ago
It's a pretty great way to provide healthcare, actually. My understanding is that european countries have pretty significant income taxes.
- arcticbull 6y ago
  You may want to take another look. Healthcare in the US is twice as expensive per capita as most European countries while the healthcare system ranks near the bottom of the OECD [2, 3] and 11th out of 11 in a recent commonwealth fund survey [1]. For the first time, life expectancy in the US is actually going down. Even the best area identified in [2, 3] re: 5-year mortality for cancers is misleading as the US notoriously over-tests early on, detecting disease early, but isn't actually more effective at treating the disease, and folks die at the same time as they would in European systems. This naturally makes the 5-year mortality rates look good, but doesn't change the fact you're still gonna die at the same time. While admittedly cherry-picked, it's also the only developed country in the world where mother's mortality rates during childbirth are rising. A mother is 5X as likely to die giving birth in America as compared to Canada (where healthcare costs half per capita and covers everyone). Also, consider the median amount of tax collected in the US (excluding private $800/month tax your employer pays to insurance companies on your behalf) is actually higher sometimes than Canada now. The top marginal rates are also higher, consistently. [4] [1] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2017/new-11-country-study-us-health-care-system-has-widest-gap-between-people-higher https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2017/new-11-c... [2] https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/health-at-a-glance-united-states-EN.pdf https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/health-at-a-glance-united-... [3] http://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance-19991312.htm http://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance-19991312.htm [4] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/canadians-may-pay-more-taxes-than-americans-but-theres-a-catch.html https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/07/canadians-may-pay-more-taxes...
  - ByteJockey 6y ago
    And you think that raising salaries would ruin this somehow? Otherwise it seems like raising salaries would help here, since the system would be better funded. Unless of course raising salaries somehow screws up the system.