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I share your groups belief that a thriving economy needs all groups to have enough liquid currency to enable consumption, but the evidence from the Australian b

I share your groups belief that a thriving economy needs all groups to have enough liquid currency to enable consumption, but the evidence from the Australian business community suggests that in fact no, businesses will do everything possible not to pay their staff enough to consume and will still be surprised when consumer spending plummets. Even our ‘financial press’ seems to miss the point that without consumption the economy stops when they argue constantly against increases to minimum wages or that the ever widening chasm between employee and executive compensation is both ok and desirable.

csallen 4y ago
Companies wanting to pay lower wages makes sense and is a real thing. But it's not due to a desire to keep people poor. Rather, the motivation there is identical to customers who bargain shop for cheap deals: a simple desire to save money. Here's perhaps a better way to look at it: Anyone accepting money is a business, anyone paying money is a customer. If I "hire" you as your "employer" and give you a "salary" to be my "employee" and do your "job," the reality is you're the business and I"m the customer. Employer really means customer, employee really means business, hire really means buy, salary really means price, and job really means product/service. And just like every customer/business relationship, the business wants to charge more, the customer wants to pay less, and neither party is much concerned with the downstream effects on the economy. Everyone just wants to save.
- PebblesHD 4y ago
  I absolutely agree its not some conspiracy to keep people poor, more of a comment on the shortsightedness of the business community with regards to where their income comes from. I read the GP comment as businesses in general act in their best interests by introducing money into the economy by hiring staff etc. but I contend that in our smaller local industry, instead businesses have done everything from actual wage theft to consistently arguing against all forms of remuneration increases for staff against a backdrop of increasing rents, skyrocketing house prices, and significant inflation backed up by our financial press pronouncing that any extra money going to workers would crash the economy and have still been caught surprised that people don’t have money to spend.
  - Ekaros 4y ago
    As individual business getting your labour for cheapest possible price makes absolute sense. As larger picture, rising the minimum wage might not be worse thing as almost all of it will go to consumption thus increased demand. Business in developed countries make more money because their consumers can pay more.

csallen 4y ago

Companies wanting to pay lower wages makes sense and is a real thing. But it's not due to a desire to keep people poor. Rather, the motivation there is identical to customers who bargain shop for cheap deals: a simple desire to save money. Here's perhaps a better way to look at it: Anyone accepting money is a business, anyone paying money is a customer. If I "hire" you as your "employer" and give you a "salary" to be my "employee" and do your "job," the reality is you're the business and I"m the customer. Employer really means customer, employee really means business, hire really means buy, salary really means price, and job really means product/service. And just like every customer/business relationship, the business wants to charge more, the customer wants to pay less, and neither party is much concerned with the downstream effects on the economy. Everyone just wants to save.

PebblesHD 4y ago
I absolutely agree its not some conspiracy to keep people poor, more of a comment on the shortsightedness of the business community with regards to where their income comes from. I read the GP comment as businesses in general act in their best interests by introducing money into the economy by hiring staff etc. but I contend that in our smaller local industry, instead businesses have done everything from actual wage theft to consistently arguing against all forms of remuneration increases for staff against a backdrop of increasing rents, skyrocketing house prices, and significant inflation backed up by our financial press pronouncing that any extra money going to workers would crash the economy and have still been caught surprised that people don’t have money to spend.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  As individual business getting your labour for cheapest possible price makes absolute sense. As larger picture, rising the minimum wage might not be worse thing as almost all of it will go to consumption thus increased demand. Business in developed countries make more money because their consumers can pay more.