3 ms·

I'm not sure I understand who the parties are in your example. Who are the buyers? (Employers? People buying your product?) How does any business not get outco

I'm not sure I understand who the parties are in your example. Who are the buyers? (Employers? People buying your product?) How does any business not get outcompeted by a race to the bottom where people are always willing to perform/obtain the labor more cheaply? Why do the costs of goods get more expensive every year? If our system is so dysfunctional it can't give an inch towards the quality of life of the people living under it. Burn it to the ground, I say. We used to say the Divine Right of Kings was the best we could do.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
Buyers are anyone buying goods and services, from people who vote for politicians that promise lower taxes due to negotiating more labor hours per dollar, or someone going to Walmart and buying a $10 shirt from Bangladesh over a $20 US made shirt (made up numbers). People who buy from McDonalds over the local burger place that is more that twice as expensive. >How does any business not get outcompeted by a race to the bottom where people are always willing to perform/obtain the labor more cheaply? They do get outcompeted, hence manufacturing and textile businesses moving to other parts of the world from US/UK/Europe. And people opting to shop at large businesses with economies of scale like Walmart and Aldi over mom and pop places. >Why do the costs of goods get more expensive every year? The cost of some goods gets more expensive. A lot of consumer goods went down in price for people in US/UK/Europe for many of the post WW2 decades. It is only recently that labor costs might have started pushing prices up in real terms.
- shadowfoxx 4y ago
  I think we're still using "Biggest number profit, bigger than last-year number at all cost" thinking here. Because from my understanding and using some of the language you're using - Costs are going up "Due to labor costs going up" but these same companies are showing record profits. So it seems to me that there's room for the cost of labor to go up without increasing prices, necessarily. But the idea that companies Profit a little less - and I will never let anyone forget that profit is excess - is unfathomable to some.

lotsofpulp 4y ago

Buyers are anyone buying goods and services, from people who vote for politicians that promise lower taxes due to negotiating more labor hours per dollar, or someone going to Walmart and buying a $10 shirt from Bangladesh over a $20 US made shirt (made up numbers). People who buy from McDonalds over the local burger place that is more that twice as expensive. >How does any business not get outcompeted by a race to the bottom where people are always willing to perform/obtain the labor more cheaply? They do get outcompeted, hence manufacturing and textile businesses moving to other parts of the world from US/UK/Europe. And people opting to shop at large businesses with economies of scale like Walmart and Aldi over mom and pop places. >Why do the costs of goods get more expensive every year? The cost of some goods gets more expensive. A lot of consumer goods went down in price for people in US/UK/Europe for many of the post WW2 decades. It is only recently that labor costs might have started pushing prices up in real terms.

shadowfoxx 4y ago
I think we're still using "Biggest number profit, bigger than last-year number at all cost" thinking here. Because from my understanding and using some of the language you're using - Costs are going up "Due to labor costs going up" but these same companies are showing record profits. So it seems to me that there's room for the cost of labor to go up without increasing prices, necessarily. But the idea that companies Profit a little less - and I will never let anyone forget that profit is excess - is unfathomable to some.