5 ms·

Comparitive advantage rears its ugly head. Unfortunately you can't outsource construction. People in wealthy countries would rather make $20/hr working from ho

Comparitive advantage rears its ugly head. Unfortunately you can't outsource construction. People in wealthy countries would rather make $20/hr working from home or an air conditioned office than $45/hr laying asphalt.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
Change that to $200 per hour and the supply curves will start to shift.
- missedthecue 3y ago
  Construction companies do not have the profit margin to do that, and cities and homebuyers can barely afford construction costs as they are. Construction companies cannot charge much more than they are charging now. The market cannot support that and things start to break down. There's already a huge infrastructure cost issue in the US. Can they afford more? How much more?
  - tuatoru 3y ago
    > Construction companies do not have the profit margin Then there's a lot of construction happening that does not need to happen. Steins Law: if something cannot go on, it will stop. Looks like we're opting for the unplanned sudden stop instead of the planned gradual stop.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    >Can they afford more? How much more? Apparently not then. Expectations of quality of life will have to be adjusted downwards (has already been happening). Of course, society could stop giving healthcare to people 90+, or 80+, and reallocate some resources from there. It all depends on who has the political power in society, but generally, with a stagnant/decreasing younger age population, the fault lines will increasingly show along various age groups.
    - greedo 3y ago
      Of course, society could stop giving tax breaks to huge corporations, and fund the IRS so that tax revenues are effectively generated. We know who has the political power in society, it has little to do with age demographics.
      - reducesuffering 3y ago
        Voting for tax breaks to corporations and not funding the IRS are very correlated with age demographics.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

Change that to $200 per hour and the supply curves will start to shift.

missedthecue 3y ago
Construction companies do not have the profit margin to do that, and cities and homebuyers can barely afford construction costs as they are. Construction companies cannot charge much more than they are charging now. The market cannot support that and things start to break down. There's already a huge infrastructure cost issue in the US. Can they afford more? How much more?
- tuatoru 3y ago
  > Construction companies do not have the profit margin Then there's a lot of construction happening that does not need to happen. Steins Law: if something cannot go on, it will stop. Looks like we're opting for the unplanned sudden stop instead of the planned gradual stop.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  >Can they afford more? How much more? Apparently not then. Expectations of quality of life will have to be adjusted downwards (has already been happening). Of course, society could stop giving healthcare to people 90+, or 80+, and reallocate some resources from there. It all depends on who has the political power in society, but generally, with a stagnant/decreasing younger age population, the fault lines will increasingly show along various age groups.
  - greedo 3y ago
    Of course, society could stop giving tax breaks to huge corporations, and fund the IRS so that tax revenues are effectively generated. We know who has the political power in society, it has little to do with age demographics.
    - reducesuffering 3y ago
      Voting for tax breaks to corporations and not funding the IRS are very correlated with age demographics.