That's one of the better arguments. You also have Marx's observation that capital drives out labor, and of course the more expensive labor becomes the more we will see capital displacing it with machines and automation. But these things that will occur are a matter of degree and must be weighed against the good effects of putting more money in consumer's pockets, and creating a more honest labor market with less tax payer subsidy. I believe benefits of a wage hike will outweigh the drawbacks by an increasing margin as wages get more and more out of whack with real labor cost. Currently, in those segments of the economy where wages are far below the true cost of labor, the tax payer ends up subsidizing businesses that hire low wage labor. This is not good.
Hey Democrats, you want wage increases? How about applying the principles of free market economics.
- Thread starter wildchild
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I don't understand this sexual predator argument at all. Is there any evidence that sexual predators are more prevalent among transgendered individuals than non-transgendered? If there is, I haven't seen it.
Ugghh...No one is arguing that transgendered individuals are the ones that would be the predator's; they are arguing that allowing individuals who would "identify" as another gender opens up an entirely different set of concerns...Further, the issues aren't solely directed at the use of bathrooms, locker room areas would then be permissible as well...Now use that brain of yours and tell me how one who merely "identifies" with the opposite sex and is granted permission to the women's locker room wouldn't be a major concern for all involved...
Apparently in practice, so far, it hasn't been much of a concern to the people in the locker room.. Who are the predators your concerned about?
I worked in an industry for awhile where a group of us from several different countries would collaborate on projects (an offshoot of CAD)...I learned first hand just how absurd costs (labor especially) are between different geographic regions...Our Project Manager would often need some type of programming related to some 3D software and would bid the project in his home country of Ireland (where the bids would be $3k-$5k), then he would simply go to freelancer.com or some other offshoot website and find he could get it done for $100-$300 (same level of expertise).
Realistically, this is the same model many of the bigger companies have been using (not to the same cost discrepancies), but we know it's been going on for the better part of 25-30 years with offshoring...It's a global game of "wage arbitrage"...Production in third world locales while marking it up in first world locales...I suppose one could argue that the formerly first world locales are slowly declining into 3rd world locales and that it has taken roughly a generation for this to become apparent...Nonetheless, these companies aren't in the business of tripling their labor costs for the sake of goodwill.
This thread is about the democrats complete lack of understanding about free market economics. If this trans stuff is so important to you, start another thread.
So far? We're barely in the implementation phase of this grand social experiment...Don't fret, you'll start to hear about sexual deviants sneaking into the women's locker room and recording them...
Raising the minimum wage in the U.S. won't have any impact on the particular circumstance you mention. The problem of offshoring software development will continue. Somethings can't be off shored, of course. or can't be at competitive quality , but software is probably not one of those. Germany has been able to keep wages up and compete in manufacturing through superior engineering and design. Per capita they have a very high number of engineers, higher than in the U.S. for example. I think the answer, certainly the long term answer, is not to place artificial barriers, but to do the things that you can do better than anyone else. We could compete with Germany, for example, if we had a mind to but that would require better education of our citizens.
I see public education in the U.S. as a disaster, but not uniformly so. In some places, much of the Midwestern and Western states, it is good to excellent. Our failures are not because we can't do a good job, but because in places where we are failing we finance education with bake sales and highways with appropriations. [to some extent that reflects national priorities as well. Consider for example that the appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts could be increased five fold by building one less F-35 fighter plane per year (the Pentagon has ordered 2,500 planes!)] To solve these problems we have created, priorities must change. Look at what States like Mississippi are doing with regard to public education and you will see a perfect model of what not to do. Mississippi seems to have perfected bad decision making and this aligns perfectly as well with the State's bottom ranking in level of poverty, teen pregnancies, educational achievement, and on and on. On the other hand, Kentucky is a State with a similarly large a indigent, rural population. Kentucky did the opposite of what Mississippi is doing with quite dramatic results.*
What is at the root of these bad decisions. Clearly it is ideology. And at the root of regressive ideologies is poor education, or lack of it. One malady feeds on the other and results in a downward spiral until there is intervention from the outside and a change in priorities.
When wages are too low not only does the wage earner suffer from poverty but the children of that wage earner are impacted as well! The first step in breaking out is recognition of root causes of these maladies and what is feeding them. Your post tells me that you are every bit as capable of recognizing these maladies and the root causes as I am. Raising the minimum wage is a necessary step in the right direction, but it won't be nearly enough.
We can't afford to do nothing and simply wait until the wages in developing countries rise to meet our falling wages [the minimum U.S. wage in 2016 is 31% lower than it was in 1965, and it is not just the minimum wage that has been falling, wages across the board in the lower half of the middle class have been falling since 1965.].
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*Not, of course, the result of their States legislative initiative on their own. They aren't a good deal more competent than Mississippi's ignorant legislature and Governor. But because the courts forced the legislators to change their priorities.
I see public education in the U.S. as a disaster, but not uniformly so. In some places, much of the Midwestern and Western states, it is good to excellent. Our failures are not because we can't do a good job, but because in places where we are failing we finance education with bake sales and highways with appropriations. [to some extent that reflects national priorities as well. Consider for example that the appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts could be increased five fold by building one less F-35 fighter plane per year (the Pentagon has ordered 2,500 planes!)] To solve these problems we have created, priorities must change. Look at what States like Mississippi are doing with regard to public education and you will see a perfect model of what not to do. Mississippi seems to have perfected bad decision making and this aligns perfectly as well with the State's bottom ranking in level of poverty, teen pregnancies, educational achievement, and on and on. On the other hand, Kentucky is a State with a similarly large a indigent, rural population. Kentucky did the opposite of what Mississippi is doing with quite dramatic results.*
What is at the root of these bad decisions. Clearly it is ideology. And at the root of regressive ideologies is poor education, or lack of it. One malady feeds on the other and results in a downward spiral until there is intervention from the outside and a change in priorities.
When wages are too low not only does the wage earner suffer from poverty but the children of that wage earner are impacted as well! The first step in breaking out is recognition of root causes of these maladies and what is feeding them. Your post tells me that you are every bit as capable of recognizing these maladies and the root causes as I am. Raising the minimum wage is a necessary step in the right direction, but it won't be nearly enough.
We can't afford to do nothing and simply wait until the wages in developing countries rise to meet our falling wages [the minimum U.S. wage in 2016 is 31% lower than it was in 1965, and it is not just the minimum wage that has been falling, wages across the board in the lower half of the middle class have been falling since 1965.].
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*Not, of course, the result of their States legislative initiative on their own. They aren't a good deal more competent than Mississippi's ignorant legislature and Governor. But because the courts forced the legislators to change their priorities.
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so your teams answer is lets bring in more low wage workers and keep the borders open for illegal immigrant low wager workers as well?
then lets set up an new international trade agreement to screw our workers even further.
then to make them even less employable lets increase the minimum wage?
Please... use you brain for good, instead of defending this system which is being used to crack the back of those who still vote for fiscal sanity.
then lets set up an new international trade agreement to screw our workers even further.
then to make them even less employable lets increase the minimum wage?
Please... use you brain for good, instead of defending this system which is being used to crack the back of those who still vote for fiscal sanity.
Pie, you make a valid point about Walmart and others getting their wages subsidized through government programs. The other side though is, isn't everyone better off if those low wage employees have a job, even if they get some assistance? It's not clear if the alternatives are status quo and paying them more. It could be status quo or half of them lose their jobs.
And frankly, I'd rather subsidize Walmart workers than the National Endowment for the Arts, which is nothing but a subsidy to rich people and "artists" who can't find a market for their services.
The concept of comparative advantage is one of those ivory tower concepts that doesn't work in real life. Maybe back in the days of massive plantations and cotton mills, but not now. Any country can make an IPhone. It's just that some will impose far more stringent regulations regarding worker rights, pay, environmental controls, etc.
Much of Germany's export success I would argue comes from superior management and marketing, eg autos. That and an artificially undervalued currency, plus exploitation of esoteric trade rules like VAT reimbursement, socialized medicine etc that put our manufacturers at a serious cost disadvantage.
And frankly, I'd rather subsidize Walmart workers than the National Endowment for the Arts, which is nothing but a subsidy to rich people and "artists" who can't find a market for their services.
The concept of comparative advantage is one of those ivory tower concepts that doesn't work in real life. Maybe back in the days of massive plantations and cotton mills, but not now. Any country can make an IPhone. It's just that some will impose far more stringent regulations regarding worker rights, pay, environmental controls, etc.
Much of Germany's export success I would argue comes from superior management and marketing, eg autos. That and an artificially undervalued currency, plus exploitation of esoteric trade rules like VAT reimbursement, socialized medicine etc that put our manufacturers at a serious cost disadvantage.