2 ms·
Who is 'you?' Capitalism is a social good to the extent that it solves problems and makes people's lives better. But capitalism only solves the problems of peo
by sdenton4 6y ago
Who is 'you?'
Capitalism is a social good to the extent that it solves problems and makes people's lives better. But capitalism only solves the problems of people with money: their cash is THE incentive for others to figure out how to solve their problems. If people with problems have no money, they effectively create no demand.
Add wealth to the bottom tier of society and we'll generate generate demand to solve problems at the bottom, which in turn generates a supply of people to fix those problems. This is effectively what happened after WW2, driving the massive growth of the American middle class and a huge increases in standard of living.
Finally, there are plenty of studies backing up minimum wage increases. The boogeyman of inflation in this context is nothing but FUD.
- jacob2484 6y agoUsing post WW2 times as a basis for any argument is wrong. Post WW2, there was no China as a superpower and no globalization. If businesses are forced to pay more for low-skill labor, they can do so easily by taking the jobs elsewhere, which was not the case (or at least as easily done) after WW2.
- BurritoAlPastor 6y agoOffshoring cheap labor already happened everywhere possible. Domestic "low-skill" labor today is overwhelmingly in restaurants, hotels, and retail. I assure you that Taco Bell is not making bean burritos on-site because it's the cheapest place to do so.
- Turing_Machine 6y agoIt's pretty clear that minimum wage increases are inflationary. They may not be NET inflationary in some circumstances. Consider this thought experiment: raise the minimum wage to $2 million/hour. What happens to prices?
- aww_dang 6y agoWhat happens to employment? For 2M/hour employers would be able to maintain sophisticated forms of automation, without the liabilities of humans. In terms of price inflation, UBI will inject the hot flows which previously stayed in capital markets into everyday consumption.
- exabrial 6y agoSometimes I wonder where people come up with the crap like 'minimum wage isn't inflationary'. Make minimum wage $1,000,000/hr then!