4 ms·

I find it pretty preposterous that you would think local small businesses are the ones conspiring with any significant political power, cash reserves, and lobby

I find it pretty preposterous that you would think local small businesses are the ones conspiring with any significant political power, cash reserves, and lobbying objectives

MerelyMortal 5y ago
For small businesses to pay more, they have to raise prices, if prices rise significantly more than the prices which large corporations charge, then the small businesses get less sales until they go out of business. So no, the small businesses probably aren't conspiring, but they are likely riding in the wake of the large corporations (having to pay workers less to offer the similar prices to remain competitive towards shoppers).
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  > For small businesses to pay more, they have to raise prices, And for them to hire employees who can afford the skyrocketing housing costs, they would have to pay more. Possibly much more. It's puzzling that many small biz owners don't seem to grasp this bit of economics. At least they give no sign. I know they can't fix this bit of reality, but they seem clueless about it.
- fundad 5y ago
  local businesses aren't orchestrating the actions of large businesses but they definitely take opportunities to talk explicitly to reporters and put up signage. The idea is business owners are acting in concert to protect their interests.
  - KennyBlanken 5y ago
    And the local community business leaders are happy to help steer reporters to the business owners who toe whatever position they've decided is in the best interests of the local business community.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  > For small businesses to pay more, they have to raise prices Only if they insist on maintaining the same profit margin. As demonstrated by the massive wealth transfer that happened during the pandemic, most businesses aren't hurting.
  - MerelyMortal 5y ago
    Many small businesses have gone out of business.
sedachv 5y ago
They are not conspiring. It just makes a lot of sense to keep operating under-staffed (your labor costs are now a fraction of what they were) as long as the revenue keeps rolling in, using "labor shortage" as an excuse to customers for why quality has gone down, and to employees for why they need to work overtime. A lot of it is also PPP loan fraud - PPP loan forgiveness terms let you weasel out of actually re-hiring staff as long as you make and document some effort at trying to hire (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/coronavirus/rules-for-rehiring/ https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/coronavirus/rules-for-rehiri... I assume the rules are similar for second draw). Also, why would you hire someone at what you believe is an "unreasonably" high wage right now, given that you believe that wages will go back down in the near future? If I was running a small business in the US with employees right now, I would be doing the same, no conspiracy necessary.
KennyBlanken 5y ago
Who said they all sat down at a secret meeting and said "okay boys, so here's what we're gonna do..."? Why do you find it preposterous that people with the same problem and the same motivation act the same way? Also: these folks certainly do talk to each other. At the golf course, the chamber of commerce, on social media...

I find it pretty preposterous that you would think local small businesses are the ones conspiring with any significant political power, cash reserves, and lobbying objectives

MerelyMortal 5y ago

For small businesses to pay more, they have to raise prices, if prices rise significantly more than the prices which large corporations charge, then the small businesses get less sales until they go out of business. So no, the small businesses probably aren't conspiring, but they are likely riding in the wake of the large corporations (having to pay workers less to offer the similar prices to remain competitive towards shoppers).

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
> For small businesses to pay more, they have to raise prices, And for them to hire employees who can afford the skyrocketing housing costs, they would have to pay more. Possibly much more. It's puzzling that many small biz owners don't seem to grasp this bit of economics. At least they give no sign. I know they can't fix this bit of reality, but they seem clueless about it.
fundad 5y ago
local businesses aren't orchestrating the actions of large businesses but they definitely take opportunities to talk explicitly to reporters and put up signage. The idea is business owners are acting in concert to protect their interests.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  And the local community business leaders are happy to help steer reporters to the business owners who toe whatever position they've decided is in the best interests of the local business community.
KennyBlanken 5y ago
> For small businesses to pay more, they have to raise prices Only if they insist on maintaining the same profit margin. As demonstrated by the massive wealth transfer that happened during the pandemic, most businesses aren't hurting.
- MerelyMortal 5y ago
  Many small businesses have gone out of business.

sedachv 5y ago

They are not conspiring. It just makes a lot of sense to keep operating under-staffed (your labor costs are now a fraction of what they were) as long as the revenue keeps rolling in, using "labor shortage" as an excuse to customers for why quality has gone down, and to employees for why they need to work overtime. A lot of it is also PPP loan fraud - PPP loan forgiveness terms let you weasel out of actually re-hiring staff as long as you make and document some effort at trying to hire (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/coronavirus/rules-for-rehiring/ https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/coronavirus/rules-for-rehiri... I assume the rules are similar for second draw). Also, why would you hire someone at what you believe is an "unreasonably" high wage right now, given that you believe that wages will go back down in the near future? If I was running a small business in the US with employees right now, I would be doing the same, no conspiracy necessary.

KennyBlanken 5y ago

Who said they all sat down at a secret meeting and said "okay boys, so here's what we're gonna do..."? Why do you find it preposterous that people with the same problem and the same motivation act the same way? Also: these folks certainly do talk to each other. At the golf course, the chamber of commerce, on social media...