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> Now MacDonald's and Walmart would have to pay a living wage else nobody would bother with those jobs. They would have to pay way more than a living wage — no

by chc 13y ago

> Now MacDonald's and Walmart would have to pay a living wage else nobody would bother with those jobs. They would have to pay way more than a living wage — nobody's going to go from a life of leisure to a Walmart job for a 5% increase in income. This would drastically increase costs, would would simply spur inflation.

macspoofing 13y ago
>They would have to pay way more than a living wage Say they'd have to pay 50% more. So what? >This would drastically increase costs, would would simply spur inflation. And inflation is a non-issue when you simply give everyone $30k/year on top of everything else?
PeterisP 13y ago
Drastically increasing costs for unskilled laborers wouldn't kill the companies - say, McDonalds wouldn't go out of business or double their burger prices because of that, as long as their competitors get the same labor cost increase. For a bunch of professions it would accelerate automation - already there are a lot of jobs that could be better done without humans, simply minimum wage workers are cheaper than the automation. On the other hand, such basic income program would be also a fix for that rising unemployment.
- chc 13y ago
  > Drastically increasing costs for unskilled laborers wouldn't kill the companies - say, McDonalds wouldn't go out of business or double their burger prices because of that, as long as their competitors get the same labor cost increase. I have to admit I don't quite follow. How would everybody getting the same labor cost increase prevent price hikes?
  - PeterisP 13y ago
    There would be a price hike for all companies, but it would be much, much smaller than the increase in wages - the price of a burger (unlike, say, price of a haircut) is mostly independent of the cook's wage, and to the extent that it matters, there are valid avenues for automation that put a cap on it.

by chc 13y ago

macspoofing 13y ago

>They would have to pay way more than a living wage Say they'd have to pay 50% more. So what? >This would drastically increase costs, would would simply spur inflation. And inflation is a non-issue when you simply give everyone $30k/year on top of everything else?

PeterisP 13y ago

Drastically increasing costs for unskilled laborers wouldn't kill the companies - say, McDonalds wouldn't go out of business or double their burger prices because of that, as long as their competitors get the same labor cost increase. For a bunch of professions it would accelerate automation - already there are a lot of jobs that could be better done without humans, simply minimum wage workers are cheaper than the automation. On the other hand, such basic income program would be also a fix for that rising unemployment.

chc 13y ago
> Drastically increasing costs for unskilled laborers wouldn't kill the companies - say, McDonalds wouldn't go out of business or double their burger prices because of that, as long as their competitors get the same labor cost increase. I have to admit I don't quite follow. How would everybody getting the same labor cost increase prevent price hikes?
- PeterisP 13y ago
  There would be a price hike for all companies, but it would be much, much smaller than the increase in wages - the price of a burger (unlike, say, price of a haircut) is mostly independent of the cook's wage, and to the extent that it matters, there are valid avenues for automation that put a cap on it.