3 ms·

In the long run we are all dead, and if the period until wages catches up is sufficiently long, you can just do it again in 10-20 years. Or peg it to inflation.

by paulmd 3y ago

In the long run we are all dead, and if the period until wages catches up is sufficiently long, you can just do it again in 10-20 years. Or peg it to inflation. “Wages will catch up eventually” isn’t a good argument that it doesn’t help people in the meantime.

FredPret 3y ago
Individuals die but humanity is hopefully forever. Poor people as a category need real solutions, not a further kicking of cans down the road. The best things that have happened to poor people throughout history have been things that increased their power in the market, and the general improvements brought on by technology.
- fishtacos 3y ago
  No one's kicking the can down the road. We're literally discussing it in this forum. There is too much abstention noticed in this discussion by those better off. It sadly a reality that those making 2.13/h have to deal with, whether from s** pay by employers, by s** tippers, or those a**holes who defend the latter.
  - FredPret 3y ago
    Raising the minimum wage is kicking the can down the road because it does nothing to address the root cause of low pay (low market power) in the long term, but instead delivers the sugar rush of immediate cash. It looks like something is being done. But the cost is twofold: 1) higher inflation (more money, same economic output), and 2) lower political momentum to help the poor, because "didn't we just raise the minimum wage?" I desperately want every last poor person on the planet to have access to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and increasing resources. But the only way to help the poor is to engineer a situation where their market power rises. This takes many forms - encouraging more entrepreneurship (entrepreneurs hire people), better capitalization for companies (more money for hiring), steady & reliable market regulations (hiring is less risky), finding ways to increase output per worker (worker is more valuable), and many other hard things. More market power for poor people means when there's a shit employer, you go to the next one, or when you need a raise, you can demand one, and so on. Supply and demand always wins. Everything else is a distraction. Minimum wage is the rent control of the labor market.

by paulmd 3y ago

FredPret 3y ago

Individuals die but humanity is hopefully forever. Poor people as a category need real solutions, not a further kicking of cans down the road. The best things that have happened to poor people throughout history have been things that increased their power in the market, and the general improvements brought on by technology.

fishtacos 3y ago
No one's kicking the can down the road. We're literally discussing it in this forum. There is too much abstention noticed in this discussion by those better off. It sadly a reality that those making 2.13/h have to deal with, whether from s** pay by employers, by s** tippers, or those a**holes who defend the latter.
- FredPret 3y ago
  Raising the minimum wage is kicking the can down the road because it does nothing to address the root cause of low pay (low market power) in the long term, but instead delivers the sugar rush of immediate cash. It looks like something is being done. But the cost is twofold: 1) higher inflation (more money, same economic output), and 2) lower political momentum to help the poor, because "didn't we just raise the minimum wage?" I desperately want every last poor person on the planet to have access to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and increasing resources. But the only way to help the poor is to engineer a situation where their market power rises. This takes many forms - encouraging more entrepreneurship (entrepreneurs hire people), better capitalization for companies (more money for hiring), steady & reliable market regulations (hiring is less risky), finding ways to increase output per worker (worker is more valuable), and many other hard things. More market power for poor people means when there's a shit employer, you go to the next one, or when you need a raise, you can demand one, and so on. Supply and demand always wins. Everything else is a distraction. Minimum wage is the rent control of the labor market.