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If lower-paid people had more income they would be paying down debt, buying a better used car, paying for daycare, and maybe going on a trip or to. Personal sh
by fred_is_fred 5y ago
If lower-paid people had more income they would be paying down debt, buying a better used car, paying for daycare, and maybe going on a trip or to.
Personal shoppers and life coaches I think kick in a lot higher than you do.
- sophacles 5y agoAt first they would pay down debt, and buy a car that actually works, and other stuff that should have always just been available to them. Once that debt is paid off, and the car is not a constant source of worry - they have money to do those other things. For example going on a trip is the same type of "luxury" as shoppers, life coaches, etc - its spending money on something other survival.
- SauciestGNU 5y agoI often think of how many ordinary working people would be able to do more than just tread water and actually begin to build some wealth if there weren't rent seekers built into nearly every necessity for sustaining human life. As a society I believe we need to re-evaluate the relationship between profit-seeking entities and public goods.
- fred_is_fred 5y agoI make probably 5x US median income and I've never paid for a life coach or personal shopper and I never will. I think you may be applying some Bay Area logic to the average American.
- tuatoru 5y agoYeah, those were just random examples from my imagining an alternative universe in which minimum wage had kept pace with productivity. You are quite right. Another counterargument is that a lot of household income goes into zero-sum, unproductive status signaling, a.k.a. "buying a house in a better neighbourhood", and "sending the kids to a better school". Still, some of the extra income would be spent on things that employ other people.