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Except that I _also_ don't believe that it's as simple as that - because we're talking about complex societal changes. If you _give_ everyone a job, then what
by AndrewDucker 13y ago
Except that I _also_ don't believe that it's as simple as that - because we're talking about complex societal changes.
If you _give_ everyone a job, then what are they doing? How does that compete with people already in minimum wage jobs? Are we offering, effectively, subsidised labour for large corporations? How does that effect people already in those jobs, or people who would be moving into those jobs?
I don't believe that any model could be made which would take all of the factors into consideration - I believe that we will need to _do_ it (in one city, or one state, or one nation) and then see what the results are.
- shawn-furyan 13y agoThe idea is to create jobs that normally wouldn't be worth a minimum wage a la the PWA (referenced in the article), so it by definition wouldn't compete with existing jobs except putting upward wage pressure on jobs that are minimum wage and less desirable than the created jobs. You seem to be led by your conclusion that the issue is intractable and letting small complications (or misunderstanding of the proposal) defeat serious reflection on the issue at hand. Another benefit of the approach suggested by the author is to allow a framework for thinking through the problem. Policy has to happen, it's better to have a framework for thinking through the implications of policy changes than to throw your hands up in frustration because rhetoric is a wholly useless tool for making policy decisions.