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> the minimum wage has not increased in a decade and real earnings have declined precipitously And inflation is causing real wages to fall even now, especially

> the minimum wage has not increased in a decade and real earnings have declined precipitously And inflation is causing real wages to fall even now, especially at the bottom of economy! A shame. We had some decent progress over the past few years. > Raise. The. Minimum. Wage. And pretend this won't contribute to inflation either directly or indirectly! Then publicly shame companies for raising prices and propose price controls as a political salve, then shame those companies when the price controls lead to shortages and propose nationalization (or at least invoke the Defense Protection act!) Marvel when the problems deepen!

SantalBlush 5y ago
Wage increases and inflation are not zero-sum. For anyone who believes businesses pass total savings from low wages on to the consumer, I have a bridge to sell you.
kspacewalk2 5y ago
Surely you mean "Blame the rich some more when the problems deepen".
deanCommie 5y ago
As if the total amount of wealth in the Western world does not account for a living wage for every person healthy enough to work. This isn't a zero sum game.
- makomk 5y ago
  Wealth is not income. In particular, the wealth of say Jeff Bezos is mostly the amount of Amazon shares he bought multiplied by the last price Amazon shares traded it. If Amazon shares trade a few percent higher that doesn't mean there is magically several billion dollars more actual, real, inflation and purchasing power adjusted money that could be going into the pockets of workers if Bezos didn't pocket it. There's simply no mechanism by which that translates into the several billions of dollars of extra real world goods and services required to make that possible. Now, there are actions that can be taken which are non-zero-sum. For example, if someone were to organise a way of providing people with goods and services more efficiently, that could increase the amount of them available and therefore actual real-terms income. We generally call these organisations "companies" and some of the value of that organisation existing is measured in the form of wealth. Just moving income around and expecting it to make everyone better off somehow is pretty zero sum, as is printing more money to chase the same amount of goods and services, or trying to convert wealth into actual income by confiscating businesses from the people who set them off and selling them off.
imtringued 5y ago
>And pretend this won't contribute to inflation either directly or indirectly! Why is inflation the devil? Why should I care about inflation? When people have money and they spend it prices rise and companies will invest to produce more. If you keep inflation low by telling people that they don't matter then the economy won't matter to those people. >Then publicly shame companies for raising prices and propose price controls as a political salve I honestly don't care. If prices rise then there is more room for competitors and growth. >then shame those companies when the price controls lead to shortages Yeah sure but a basic stance against price ceilings is only logical. Minimum prices are not ideal but during a shortage they don't really ruin anything. Price ceilings are obviously bad because they do not help with inflation and just act as a general ban on trade altogether. What I personally find strange is that employer imposed price ceilings receive no scrutiny.

SantalBlush 5y ago

Wage increases and inflation are not zero-sum. For anyone who believes businesses pass total savings from low wages on to the consumer, I have a bridge to sell you.

kspacewalk2 5y ago

Surely you mean "Blame the rich some more when the problems deepen".

deanCommie 5y ago

As if the total amount of wealth in the Western world does not account for a living wage for every person healthy enough to work. This isn't a zero sum game.

makomk 5y ago
Wealth is not income. In particular, the wealth of say Jeff Bezos is mostly the amount of Amazon shares he bought multiplied by the last price Amazon shares traded it. If Amazon shares trade a few percent higher that doesn't mean there is magically several billion dollars more actual, real, inflation and purchasing power adjusted money that could be going into the pockets of workers if Bezos didn't pocket it. There's simply no mechanism by which that translates into the several billions of dollars of extra real world goods and services required to make that possible. Now, there are actions that can be taken which are non-zero-sum. For example, if someone were to organise a way of providing people with goods and services more efficiently, that could increase the amount of them available and therefore actual real-terms income. We generally call these organisations "companies" and some of the value of that organisation existing is measured in the form of wealth. Just moving income around and expecting it to make everyone better off somehow is pretty zero sum, as is printing more money to chase the same amount of goods and services, or trying to convert wealth into actual income by confiscating businesses from the people who set them off and selling them off.

imtringued 5y ago

>And pretend this won't contribute to inflation either directly or indirectly! Why is inflation the devil? Why should I care about inflation? When people have money and they spend it prices rise and companies will invest to produce more. If you keep inflation low by telling people that they don't matter then the economy won't matter to those people. >Then publicly shame companies for raising prices and propose price controls as a political salve I honestly don't care. If prices rise then there is more room for competitors and growth. >then shame those companies when the price controls lead to shortages Yeah sure but a basic stance against price ceilings is only logical. Minimum prices are not ideal but during a shortage they don't really ruin anything. Price ceilings are obviously bad because they do not help with inflation and just act as a general ban on trade altogether. What I personally find strange is that employer imposed price ceilings receive no scrutiny.