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I think the sort answer is: “We don’t know”. We have tonnes of history to go by here. Labor costs have increased and decreased millions of times all over the wo

I think the sort answer is: “We don’t know”. We have tonnes of history to go by here. Labor costs have increased and decreased millions of times all over the world since the industrial revolution. If there was a universal pattern such as: Increased labor costs always increase product prices then surely we would know about it by now. However we don’t have such a pattern. History has shown us that it is not so simple. Workers dissatisfaction actually costs workers productivity so a low payed worker might actually yield worse prices then a high payed worker. Another thing to consider is that a lot of the companies which have high worker dissatisfaction and high chance of strikes, are multi-million dollar companies with highly payed CEOs and big shareholders that sometimes pay them self dividends and may have an offshore account for tax hiding purposes. Not only is this super frustrating for the workers of these companies, but consumer prices suffer as well. After all they could make the product cheaper to produce if less money was being diverted to the rich.

WalterBright 5y ago
> After all they could make the product cheaper to produce if less money was being diverted to the rich. Owning shares in the company means you'll get a share of the profits and dividends. Anyone can buy shares. Many companies go further and provide employee stock purchase plans and stock options. Microsoft created something like 10,000 millionaires in the Seattle area in the 90's. Amazon has surely done something similar. Microsoft and Amazon millionaires abound around here.
- andrekandre 5y ago
  > Many companies go further and provide employee stock purchase plans and stock options. those are all really great, but what i really want are the shares with voting rights (^_-)
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    Shares come with voting rights. Stock options don't until you exercise them, then you get voting rights.
    - andrekandre 5y ago
      yes usually, but some companies split the shares by class, for example google class c shares are given to employees but have no voting rights
- runarberg 5y ago
  > Microsoft and Amazon millionaires abound around here Indeed, and Microsoft and Amazon products aren’t actually cheap either. I bet Microsoft could have sold their software somewhat cheaper, and AWS user could be saved a pretty penny if these companies focused less on creating millionaires.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    Instead of being unhappy that Microsoft/Amazon aren't sharing the wealth with you, buy some stock and get your share.
    - runarberg 5y ago
      That is entirely unfair and loosing the point. First I’m not gonna gamble my money on taking profits away from different companies. Second, even if I had the knowledge and the will to buy correct shares and make money by buying shares, that money probably deserves to stay with the workers that actually produced it. I personally don’t want to be the person getting the money that fellow workers earned but didn’t get. But this is all besides the point. The point is that money siphoned to shareholders and CEOs is just as costly as money used to pay workers more. Both have the potential of ending up as increased consumer price. If your workers are demanding more pay, and you are a CEO of a multi-million dollar company, you could very well finance the increased pay by cutting bonuses to upper management and canceling dividends, as opposed to raising the price of the products.
      - WalterBright 5y ago
        > First I’m not gonna gamble my money on taking profits away from different companies. Now we're getting somewhere! A true story. A friend of mine was offered a job at a startup. He was offered a salary plus a percent of the profits. He said he didn't want to take any risk, and wanted a higher salary instead of the percent. He got it. The company was successful, and was eventually sold. The employees who opted for profit sharing got a handsome bonuses. He did not. He was incensed. Do you think his anger was justified?

WalterBright 5y ago

> After all they could make the product cheaper to produce if less money was being diverted to the rich. Owning shares in the company means you'll get a share of the profits and dividends. Anyone can buy shares. Many companies go further and provide employee stock purchase plans and stock options. Microsoft created something like 10,000 millionaires in the Seattle area in the 90's. Amazon has surely done something similar. Microsoft and Amazon millionaires abound around here.

andrekandre 5y ago
> Many companies go further and provide employee stock purchase plans and stock options. those are all really great, but what i really want are the shares with voting rights (^_-)
- WalterBright 5y ago
  Shares come with voting rights. Stock options don't until you exercise them, then you get voting rights.
  - andrekandre 5y ago
    yes usually, but some companies split the shares by class, for example google class c shares are given to employees but have no voting rights
runarberg 5y ago
> Microsoft and Amazon millionaires abound around here Indeed, and Microsoft and Amazon products aren’t actually cheap either. I bet Microsoft could have sold their software somewhat cheaper, and AWS user could be saved a pretty penny if these companies focused less on creating millionaires.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  Instead of being unhappy that Microsoft/Amazon aren't sharing the wealth with you, buy some stock and get your share.
  - runarberg 5y ago
    That is entirely unfair and loosing the point. First I’m not gonna gamble my money on taking profits away from different companies. Second, even if I had the knowledge and the will to buy correct shares and make money by buying shares, that money probably deserves to stay with the workers that actually produced it. I personally don’t want to be the person getting the money that fellow workers earned but didn’t get. But this is all besides the point. The point is that money siphoned to shareholders and CEOs is just as costly as money used to pay workers more. Both have the potential of ending up as increased consumer price. If your workers are demanding more pay, and you are a CEO of a multi-million dollar company, you could very well finance the increased pay by cutting bonuses to upper management and canceling dividends, as opposed to raising the price of the products.
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      > First I’m not gonna gamble my money on taking profits away from different companies. Now we're getting somewhere! A true story. A friend of mine was offered a job at a startup. He was offered a salary plus a percent of the profits. He said he didn't want to take any risk, and wanted a higher salary instead of the percent. He got it. The company was successful, and was eventually sold. The employees who opted for profit sharing got a handsome bonuses. He did not. He was incensed. Do you think his anger was justified?