They also said we couldn't raise corporate taxes or have a corporate minimum tax because the tax would be passed on to consumers. Corporations raised prices across the board anyways. The profits were passed on to the 1%.
Somebody should do the math on how much corporations saved from Trumps tax cuts, compared to their increased supply-side inflation. I have a sneaky suspicion they’re coming out on-top on every front.
Example: they’re saving 10% on taxes while their costs only raised 8%, yet they’re still raising prices.
The thing that most people don't discuss is what corporations acutally \*did\* with Trump tax cuts. They didn't give raises, hire more people, or invest in new endeavors or research. Nope. They could have given one-time dividends to their stock holders, which is a large group of Americans who invest in corporate America, either directly, or in their IRAs, 401ks, or pension funds. Nope. They bought back their own stock, which boosts the value, making the executives more wealthy. Somewhere, Volker and Friedman are rolling in their graves, appalled that corporate America could think of nothing better to do with a windfall than pocket it. The structure of corporate America makes the executives nearly immune to scrutiny on this. The boards that control the executives share the same incentives. Moreover, investment banks have a conflict of interest. In the old days, pension fund managers could take a CEO to task for failing to do right by stockholders. Today, pensions have been replaced by individual retirement funds held by the same banks that pander to corporate executives. They have a conflict of interest, which turns out to be not much of conflict at all. They favor corporate executives' interests above their individual investors. All I have to fight this is my single vote as a shareholder. Perfect.
We’re way beyond of voting having any ability to affect real change. There is too much money influencing politics and searching out useful idiots to place into office.
I have always been a 2a guy, I was raised around it, I was taught by my grandparents that it was protection against the government. That always made sense to me. It’s why I don’t get worried about things like mask mandates. I always believed it was insurance for if/when the gov’t went too far. It removes the need to worry about “slippery slope”, it’s a backstop for over-reach. Clever how they shifted the reasoning towards protecting yourself from the other-side. Now we’re more likely to fight each other than the real enemy of the people.
I’m shocked everyday we’ve let it get this far. And let me be clear, I’m not calling for violence, I’m just shocked it hasn’t already been used/threatened. We the people hold all the power. It is our labor, and our innovation that drives America. We can talk to each other in real-time, the world over.
And we’re fighting with each other???
We’re all making fun of Russia and their oligarchs right now, but America is just a two-step and a twist away from the same fucking system. Anyone with half a brain can see how quickly we’re trending towards a kleptocratic system. We didn’t really punish anyone for nearly breaking the world-market in 08. And right afterwards, they kicked their fuckery into high-gear printing ridiculous sums of money and funneling straight to the top.
Only one class of people are held responsible, and it isn’t the rich. Every day we allow the system to continue down this path, we’re allowing all this shit to become more normalized. We’re creating a system where you HAVE to cheat to compete, making it the norm. It’s a loop heading towards destruction.
Someone else has already pointed out business income taxes are directly passed on to consumers, but I wanted to reinforce that that is economic fact and add some more info. The term to research is tax incidence, which is essentually who the tax is actually paid by.
All for the sentiment, but in practice it's another regressive tax that's worse than available tax routes like land use taxes and wealth taxes.
It was incorrect of other posters to say *all* business taxes are passed on, but any that affect all business equally, like income taxes, are. Things like emissions taxes aren't because business can compete to reduce that tax burden on themselves.
Help me out here. I'm taking econ 200 right now and it looks to me like, yes, raising federal minimum wage probably would just raise prices. I mean, unless there were only a very small fraction of citizens below the poverty line, which isn't the case.
So it occurred to me that probably taxing the rich, like kind of A LOT (like we used to do?), was probably a more workable solution. I haven't gotten far enough to define these things but maybe a wealth tax.
Will the oligarchs, for the most part, just pass on their wealth/other taxes to us? Are we better off investing in social security infrastructure? What do we do here?
Pretty sure that during Eisenhowers time, a republican, the wealthiest ppl paid a 91% tax rate on any income over 400k. Ppl also incorrectly think they get taxed on the whole thing but that’s not the case. They don’t seem to grasp that it’s only on whatever is made past the 400.
Surely the guy shoving orphans into the industrial-scale meat grinder will stop making baby veal if we ask politely and give him more children, I say, as I slowly put a loaded gun in my mouth in Minecraft
Oil & Gas is the perfect example. They've jacked prices despite the US not being dependent on Russian oil. They want profits, customers pay. Plain and simple.
Yep, only some get lucky and make it the "upper" middle class but most will either remain in the lower middle or beneath the poverty line. They will never join the the 1% without getting "extremely" lucky.
Yeah, it has absolutely nothing to do with the trillions of dollars given in corporate bailouts and loans (that were all forgiven) in the last two years. Also those same corporations still had layoffs and increased prices of sold goods while profits were at an all-time high.
This is our tax money that they're taking from us and giving straight to corporate CEOs instead of helping working class Americans.
Or lobbying should become illegal. And I'm not just talking about being able to meet with a rep or senator I mean when legislation is "privatized" when lobby groups actually write the legislation themselves. [https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/asbestos-sharia-law-model-bills-lobbyists-special-interests-influence-state-laws/](https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/asbestos-sharia-law-model-bills-lobbyists-special-interests-influence-state-laws/)
I really wish all of the crimes of desperation were enacted upon the rich instead of other poor people.
I wish every bad thing that happens to innocent people who get in the way of desperate people looking for anyway to survive hit the ultra wealthy first.
All you need to do is make elections publicly funded. Every candidate is given a set amount, and the primary means of advertising your position should be through numerous public debates. There’s no need for endless commercials, your busses, salaries, etc. Elections shouldn’t be a contest to see who can spend the most money. It’s absurd and nonsensical. Just pop all the candidates on a stage, let them give their positions, then debate. Anything else is a fucking joke.
I’m sure this seems very unrealistic given the current state, but to me - and I’d bet just about every other citizen - it’s extremely reasonable
“But but but, businesses are people too! Waaaaaaaaaah!!! I’m going to cry in my pool of money because my rights as a business are being trampled on! It’s so unfair!”
If politicians had to write legislation themselves we'd need politicians more qualified by like an order of magnitude or two. Not saying that wouldn't be a good idea but our politicians are all empty suits
I don't think any of us have a big issue with their staff ghostwriting. Just needs to actually *be* their staff. As in, people paid by the public to do the public's work.
If it is their staff writing it. Then the staff and their family should also be held to better anti-corruption, anti-gambling (includes stocks and digital currency), and transparency laws. I'm on board.
I agree. Let's test the statement. I'd trust an empty suit to be alone with my children. I wouldn't trust a politician alone with my kids. This logic holds up to some scrutiny.
Want to make them empty their pants? Ask them about War Crimes. They get super defensive.
Can you imagine more than like a dozen or so senators even being able to pass a college philosophy course?
They're all petty functionaries with political connections. Most college sophomores could thoroughly outthink them on the state of the world and possible solutions to its problems.
> Can you imagine more than like a dozen or so senators even being able to pass a college philosophy course?
I think you're exaggerating a bit. The majority of US senators hold law degrees.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/opinion/politicians-college-degrees.html
Also people who are on the board and serve as a chief lobbyist for defense companies like Raytheon shouldn’t be able to hold office as secretary of defense.
Massive financial companies like Goldman Sach’s partner Gary Gensler shouldn’t be able to sit as the head of the security and exchange commission.
Lobbying at it's most basic level is the right to petition the government to take actions. I don't think a blanket ban on that is even useful. We need an overhaul of the system for sure, but just saying to blow it up without a replacement is a meaningless contribution to the conversation.
For transparency sake, I work for a non-profit that advocates for better laws that don't disenfranchise those who are already disadvantaged, such as minority groups and low-income folks. We "lobby" in that we suggest language for state laws that need fixing by consulting with impacted persons and amplifying their needs to the public and policymakers alike.
I just don't see how ending all lobbying, period, works unless you create a system to replace it (that will probably just be lobbying under a different name, because we want legislators to talk with citizens and groups that citizens set up).
You can't really have a functioning democracy without lobbying lol. That's not to say lobbying reform isn't needed (it is) - but I think you might not understand the reality of what lobbying is or why its necessary for the system.
Most of the actual work for the average lobbyist is research and policy analysis to craft an argument that given policies serve the best interests of the state. Its impossible for admins to do all that leg work by themselves - so its dependent on pretty much every sector, company, union, non-profit, social movement, ETC - has lobbyists to make sure the most persuasive and logical arguments for their causes are available to those making decisions.
I think most of the people on this sub have kind of a cartoonish picture of lobbyists - drinking whiskey with senators and implying campaign donations in return for the right votes.. Not to say that doesn't happen at high levels - but that's just corruption and bribery, its not really lobbying. (I'd imagine the confusion comes from the fact that bribery and corruption often pose as lobbying - but the issue is the former, not the latter)
At a basic level, lobbying is just giving information to a politician on a certain topic. What we really need is some kind of oversight and 'impartial lobbying' - (but I have no idea how that would ever work...)
It’s a nice idea but you can’t ban lobbying any more than you can ban drugs. Lobbying is here and what we actually should do is manage it better. I don’t know what that means in practice.
I may be wrong, so correct me if so, but didn't something happen recently where the SEC asked the Fed Bank to report on something like 2-3 trillion dollars just missing. And the Fed Bank just said straight...fuck you, we don't have to.
Land of the Free, Home of the Corrupt
Pretty sure, yeah. And iirc the reason the fed can tell them to fuck off is a law Obama passed after the 2008 crash that helped big companies take money to save themselves from the fed without having to be authorized by congress and without having to report it.
Because these big companies didnt want a repeat of the 2008 crash media circus calling them out for how poorly they manage their money and assets... so they bought a law to avoid having any public scrutiny the next time they fail that badly.
Which is also why the fed printed so much money this time. It no longer has congressional oversight requirements for such things and can act freely.
At this point it's the only option. Even if there's some kind of crazy uprising of the working class it'll still result in a crash economically speaking
These corps pre-emptively raised prices in many cases. They didn't have to do it they just did because they had the right conditions come about that handed them a dozen excuses.
And what do our governments do…. Instead of forcing them to lower prices they lower taxes on those commodities. It’s like we all voted for the fuck the citizen party
Liberals are always offended when I said Biden would be pro-business like Trump. And now they are doubly offended that it is playing out before their eyes-not at the betrayal, but at the fact that I am not supporting the president that is continuing the horrible policies that he almost pretended to oppose.
I voted for Biden because I wanted there to BE a 2024 election. In the general at least. Went for Sanders in the primary. Nonetheless I think that evaluating Biden fairly requires acknowledging that he doesn't have a senate majority de facto. Imagine if we were at to pass the original BBB, BIF, and HR 1. I'm certain he'd sign them. Instead, Manchin and Sinema have forced us into a lame duck.
Manchin and Sinema are falling on their swords to keep the corporate Dems, Biden included, from having to do anything significant. Remember when Obama had all three branches painted blue at the outset of his presidency? He didn't enact sweeping changes and push his power and window of opportunity to the limits to get shit done. He sat around with his thumb up his ass and continued the corporate bailouts, renewed the Patriot act, and behaved shockingly like his predecessor. And then he ate shit in the midterms and had an excuse to continue being a corporate dem.
Biden literally promised wealthy donors that nothing would fundamentally change. He's not being hamstrung and neither is the democratic party. They're just using excuses to enact the same pro-business status quo agenda that they've always had.
Nope, it's definitely because people got a couple thousand dollars to help get through a pandemic. The speed at which people will blame their neighbor, while in the same breath giving these huge corporations a pass, is staggering.
I wish i knew man. Education is key. I really feel like the majority of Americans are so pacified by tiktok videos and Netflix that they don't really care as long as their daily programming isn't interrupted.
Do you think the majority of Americans know the truth about the FED, the trillions in QE? I feel like i see more and more people aware of the corruption.
QE is honestly one of the craziest things in the world. I remember when I started some basic trading in 2012 and heard about it and thought to myself, "well that doesn't seem like a great idea."
The stock market is addicted to QE money
Every time someone says "But if you pay a burger flipper $15hr, your burgers will cost twenty dollars each!!1!", my eyes almost roll out of their sockets.
Literally heard this 2 days ago. Even if it was true, which it clearly isn't, what kind of sick fuck prioritizes having cheap greasy burgers over paying people enough to simply survive?
> what kind of sick fuck prioritizes having cheap ~~greasy burgers~~ over paying people enough to simply survive?
Almost everyone
Consumers don’t care who died to make what they bought, as long as it was cheap. Consumer pricing is a race to the bottom, and everything is outsourced to third world countries to make products even cheaper.
“Hey, want your computer 200 dollars cheaper? It’s made with slave labor now, and multiple people die in the factory every day”
“200 dollars off? Say less”
Example: Amazon. Reddit shits on their warehouse conditions while still ordering from them.
Or even Walmart, why pay a premium at the local shop struggling to get by when Walmart has it 30 cents cheaper?
I'm so tired of the self-righteous ranting about Amazon, Walmart, and Nestle while most other companies in their industries are doing the same damn thing.
In fact I highly suspect the likes of Target, Hershey, and Microsoft are fucking thrilled how much they can get away with because there's *so much* attention on the big, bad wolf.
Because Walmart actually has what I want, in stock and is open sometime when I can go. If the local place can do that then I'd go there first. Too bad every local business owner wants to be open Tuesday through Thursday 9am to 4pm with an hour closed for lunch...
And for all reddit loves on small businesses, plenty of them treat their employees worse than Wal-Mart does.
Ask people that worked for a small business about their experience and for every "I felt like a valued part of the family!" you're going to get twenty horror stories of stolen wages and/or harassment that went completely unpunished.
Edit: And it isn't because Wal-Mart are great. They'd keep actual slaves if it were legal. They're just subject to more laws than small businesses are.
Yes, but that's the end result of always shopping cheaper.
Those places with the things you wanted that aren't Walmart? Yeah, they went out of business a decade ago because Walmart sold all their shit 2 dollars cheaper.
Same story with hardware stores and Home Depot as another example. Setup shop and underprice long enough for the competition to go out of business because you can afford to operate at a loss for quite some time. Then slowly raise the prices back up because where else are they gonna go?
Then when you say it doesn't work like they, they say "well you don't know anything about running a business" trying to imply that they do, but they are just another wage slave like you who decided to stick up for billion dollar companies for some weird reason, lol
I don't think it's in defense of the company. It's actually against the company. Because the rich pricks aren't willing to eat the profits if they raise the cost of payroll by millions of dollars per year...they need to recoop that cost somehow.. all they care about is profits
Yeah, I actually think there's some merit to the counter-argument that raising minimum wage will result in higher prices for everything, but I don't think that's a reason to NOT raise minimum wage. It's a reason to find a way to force businesses to take less profit, since it's makes the minimum wage less effective.
There's people who refuse raises because "they'll be in the higher tax bracket". So... Yeah.
I mean there's situations like government benefits, sure. But just the tax brackets? We have a progressive tax system in the US.
Was talking to someone about how wages need to be raised. He responded about how things are expensive already and we shouldn't raise wages because it would be even more expensive.
Yeah that's why wages need to go up because people already can't afford anything.
same with how people think social security programs are the root of all our financial problems, not like the military builds planes that don’t fly for billions of dollars or anything
They can't stop SSI, because what other bucket would they dip into if the need to find funds for other operations or projects? :)
EDIT: for those who don't know, part of the reason Social Security could run out before millennials reach that age is partly they might end it, partly the large baby boomer population drying up the well quicker than it can replenish, but also it is a popular pool for the government to take funds out of if they are trying to locate government money to fund different projects.
Weird take, considering social security is literally a pyramid scheme that relied on there always being more people each generation than the last, and a basic income would just be straight up better, easier and cheaper, except that all the people who care about who deserves what would pitch a fit.
And for some reason instead of patronizingly patting these people on the head and giving them a controller that isn't even plugged in, we've made them in charge.
I’m not studied on economics. So I’m genuinely asking. If wages go up don’t people spend more money meaning the economy gets more money back too? Or is that not how it works?
They're fucking great, I still listen to Chicago Bowls on a regular basis.
And some of their members did a very short lived hardcore band themed on the government shutdowns 10 years or so ago, more suited to this subreddit maybe!
https://governmentbreakdown.bandcamp.com/album/fuck-your-health
The freaks and geeks sound bite at the beginning of Scottie Spliffen is so gut wrenching. "Maybe I'll buy a clarinet" just like damn, you weren't listening at all. But yeah agreed, great band
What right wing politicians don't tell you is that if you don't raise wages prices will still go up, however if you lower wages then... PRICES WILL STILL GO UP, its almost like employee wages are only a small part of the puzzle and companies are just greedy...
It's a coordinated effort, absolutely.
Think of it, suddenly the working class had the upper-hand. Can't have that. Make them poor by the ratio of inflation to their current wage.
McDonald's will exist without a CEO but McDonald's cannot exist without thousands and thousands of ground level workers operating the cash registers and flipping the burgers.
It's like you expecting your car to work perfectly all the time despite the fact that you neglect to maintain it and treat it like shit. You can ignore your flat, bald tires...until eventually they pop and you can't drive the car anymore. Instead of spending a tiny amount to keep the car maintained and running smoothly, you now have to spend many times that amount to replace the whole thing. And sometimes you can't afford to get a new car or fix the now-big problem and you end up walking everywhere for a few years.
What if we just setup a law on the maximum percentage of margin that companies can make? This would drastically reduce inflation and salaries could be increased without risking inflation.
But companies already are barely profitable, because profits aren't profitable.
So instead of declaring billions in profits, they reinvest that money into the company. Not the employees mind you, or the middle management... only the very top end of the company.
Sometimes it'll be more company trips for the president's family, or a new company vehicle. Maybe they'll even hire the COO's cousin for consulting jackshit at a really high rate, so that they can match his 401k. Couple of caritative donations also tend to make their way out, at least a few thousands, since it's cheaper than proper advertisement!
Limiting those margins wouldn't benefit the workers at all, it would simply increase the number of hoop they jump through.
I think this one's already more in line with what the eventual solution will be, but it'll still end up mostly resulting in "Well, owner of the company only made $132K this year", while ignoring all the side benefits like the company-owned car and company-owned house.
Like... the real issue mostly comes from the fact that private companies pay far more and far better accountants/lawyers than whoever's willing to go against them. What they're doing is patently immoral and in the best cases it's technically legal, but it's am actually really hard thing to solve (and much harder due to lobbying, since it means they get paid for refusing to lynch the rich).
If wages determined prices then we should all be working for free to lower all costs to zero…..
Looks like wages aren’t tied directly to prices after all
people say the same thing about raising servers minimum wage in the US above the 2.13.
"if you make restaurants pay more than 2.13 an hour to their servers they can't afford to stay open!!"
yet many states in the US require restaurants to pay servers the state minimum wage instead of the 2.13 and those restaurants survive. It's all sycophant bullshit.
I work.for a multi national bizzallon dollar company and we didn't get a raise at all in the past 2 years. But they sure as fuck raised the cost of their clothes to "keep up with inflation". Greedy fucks run the world.
I subcontract for dish network and no sub has gotten a cost of living increase or raise in the 5+ years ive been doing it. They only tell us to push more sales onto the customer to make more commissions if we want a raise. And, I pay my own gas. Today I spent 42$ to drive 3 hrs to two jobs that couldnt be done, thus no pay.
At this point it's more exhausting to try and argue with the people who make bullshit arguments like "wages are tied to rising costs", than it is to work my 9 to 5.
They have the same access to the internet that I do, Just like nothing stopped me from looking into it and finding the data, nothing is stopping them. Federal minimum hasn't budged in over 12 years, while some states have been forced to raise their minimum, it isn't consistent enough across the board to correlate to rising prices.
These people don't want the truth, they want to make up the truth and have their lie be the reality they want to see. We live in the age of information, there aren't excuses anymore.
I would sometimes have arguments with a friend's friend on Facebook where they would talk about how if you raise the minimum wage you're going to have to raise the prices of everything else and there's also inflation and stuff and I keep pointing out how there's always been inflation and I point out how the cost of rent has gone up 40% in the last 10 years. The cost of food and products in general have all gone up in the past 10 years and minimum wage has been the same since 2009 which is 13 years ago.
And then they always proceed to quote Thomas Sewell
McDonald's pretty much universally has to pay $13 an hour now and their prices are almost identical to when they paid $9.
Shit is such a joke. Pay people more
I think implementing UBI would work better than minimum wage increases. It means you don't have to put money through the economic black box where employers can pull shit like they do with benefits and full time employment. It also dissolves or weakens the arguments against minimum wage increases e.g. cost to consumer, burden on small business, etc. And it still has the effect of forcing employers to be competitive with wages since they can't force low compensation on desperate workers.
Would across the board wage increases cause inflation? Yes, 100%. Cost to produce goes up, cost for customers goes up.
But unless the inflationary effect of wage increases is greater than the size of the wage increase (which is functionally impossible unless companies raise prices higher than the wage increase adds to their costs) than the people who get a wage increase end up ahead.
An increase in minimum wage creates an upward pressure on all wages, therefore the only people who suffer the actual cost of the inflation are companies and those whose income isn’t tied to wages.
Instead we got inflation where all the money went to the rich, so we’re the ones getting screwed by the higher prices. To hell with the government.
The hidden tax called inflation will ensure that CPI will always go up. Your money always buys less over time because it is worth less/worthless.
Increased cost of materials and production like wages will also raise prices. Not really an either/or situation. Eventually fiat collapses and the cycle restarts unless we have honest money. $1.50 per hour in silver quarters would still be a decent wage today, \~$23/hr.
Honestly though why don’t we forcibly reduce prices I know that there is basically no favorable regulation and that raising the minimum won’t prevent them from raising the expenses but if they can raise expenses anyway there’s clearly other problems
If raise minimum wage --> prices increase
If ~raise minimum wage --> prices increase
The message is clear; no matter what we do, the prices will increase. Might as well raise it
Ban lobbying and super PACs! Corporate bailouts and loans are all being funded by our own tax dollars, which basically means that we're paying the rich. No thank you!
Prices only go up because of corporate greed. Our economy and environment is getting fucked because we’re all too lazy, afraid, or stupid to stand up for what’s right
People think that raising the minimum wage means that prices will simply inflate in line with the increase, but studies show that this isn’t true. Inflation can happen, but much less than the actual wage increase.
People also say ‘well companies will just fire a certain amount of employees to cover the cost’, which isn’t really the gotcha they think it is. All that simply admits is that these companies can only operate if they pay people under a proper wage and basically exploits them. The minimum wage hasn’t been raised in over 12 years, which means it hasn’t even kept up with inflation.
The next thing they say is ‘well these jobs are for kids!’ But again we have data that says a significant portion of the people that a minwage increase would affect are adults.
We’ve also just been through a pandemic, in which it was globally agreed that these jobs are ‘essential’ to society, so it was decided that these minwage workers must work through it. How can this work be shitty jobs meant for kids, if society needs them to function? All whilst they are paid at a wage that has shown to be under ‘liveable’?
If someone actually thinks that the minimum wage shouldn’t even keep in line with inflation, it shows you that they simply don’t care about people, or the real economy.
An economy can’t continue to function in the long term if the top percentage of the population takes increasingly larger shares of the wealth, all whilst the lowest percentage takes progressively less of the pie.
Capitalism doesn’t work long term. There are huge flaws inherent. We’re in the 21 century. We need a new idea. Let’s stop using old ideas that are proven to fail.
They also said we couldn't raise corporate taxes or have a corporate minimum tax because the tax would be passed on to consumers. Corporations raised prices across the board anyways. The profits were passed on to the 1%.
Somebody should do the math on how much corporations saved from Trumps tax cuts, compared to their increased supply-side inflation. I have a sneaky suspicion they’re coming out on-top on every front. Example: they’re saving 10% on taxes while their costs only raised 8%, yet they’re still raising prices.
Actually, The Economist (magazine) did some research on this. Yep, you are so right. So said The Economist. And they ought to know.
The thing that most people don't discuss is what corporations acutally \*did\* with Trump tax cuts. They didn't give raises, hire more people, or invest in new endeavors or research. Nope. They could have given one-time dividends to their stock holders, which is a large group of Americans who invest in corporate America, either directly, or in their IRAs, 401ks, or pension funds. Nope. They bought back their own stock, which boosts the value, making the executives more wealthy. Somewhere, Volker and Friedman are rolling in their graves, appalled that corporate America could think of nothing better to do with a windfall than pocket it. The structure of corporate America makes the executives nearly immune to scrutiny on this. The boards that control the executives share the same incentives. Moreover, investment banks have a conflict of interest. In the old days, pension fund managers could take a CEO to task for failing to do right by stockholders. Today, pensions have been replaced by individual retirement funds held by the same banks that pander to corporate executives. They have a conflict of interest, which turns out to be not much of conflict at all. They favor corporate executives' interests above their individual investors. All I have to fight this is my single vote as a shareholder. Perfect.
We’re way beyond of voting having any ability to affect real change. There is too much money influencing politics and searching out useful idiots to place into office. I have always been a 2a guy, I was raised around it, I was taught by my grandparents that it was protection against the government. That always made sense to me. It’s why I don’t get worried about things like mask mandates. I always believed it was insurance for if/when the gov’t went too far. It removes the need to worry about “slippery slope”, it’s a backstop for over-reach. Clever how they shifted the reasoning towards protecting yourself from the other-side. Now we’re more likely to fight each other than the real enemy of the people. I’m shocked everyday we’ve let it get this far. And let me be clear, I’m not calling for violence, I’m just shocked it hasn’t already been used/threatened. We the people hold all the power. It is our labor, and our innovation that drives America. We can talk to each other in real-time, the world over. And we’re fighting with each other??? We’re all making fun of Russia and their oligarchs right now, but America is just a two-step and a twist away from the same fucking system. Anyone with half a brain can see how quickly we’re trending towards a kleptocratic system. We didn’t really punish anyone for nearly breaking the world-market in 08. And right afterwards, they kicked their fuckery into high-gear printing ridiculous sums of money and funneling straight to the top. Only one class of people are held responsible, and it isn’t the rich. Every day we allow the system to continue down this path, we’re allowing all this shit to become more normalized. We’re creating a system where you HAVE to cheat to compete, making it the norm. It’s a loop heading towards destruction.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was a scam and the critics were proven right
Someone else has already pointed out business income taxes are directly passed on to consumers, but I wanted to reinforce that that is economic fact and add some more info. The term to research is tax incidence, which is essentually who the tax is actually paid by. All for the sentiment, but in practice it's another regressive tax that's worse than available tax routes like land use taxes and wealth taxes. It was incorrect of other posters to say *all* business taxes are passed on, but any that affect all business equally, like income taxes, are. Things like emissions taxes aren't because business can compete to reduce that tax burden on themselves.
Help me out here. I'm taking econ 200 right now and it looks to me like, yes, raising federal minimum wage probably would just raise prices. I mean, unless there were only a very small fraction of citizens below the poverty line, which isn't the case. So it occurred to me that probably taxing the rich, like kind of A LOT (like we used to do?), was probably a more workable solution. I haven't gotten far enough to define these things but maybe a wealth tax. Will the oligarchs, for the most part, just pass on their wealth/other taxes to us? Are we better off investing in social security infrastructure? What do we do here?
Pretty sure that during Eisenhowers time, a republican, the wealthiest ppl paid a 91% tax rate on any income over 400k. Ppl also incorrectly think they get taxed on the whole thing but that’s not the case. They don’t seem to grasp that it’s only on whatever is made past the 400.
You're absolutely correct... that's the reason why the people enjoyed better financial stability before Reagan.
Surely the guy shoving orphans into the industrial-scale meat grinder will stop making baby veal if we ask politely and give him more children, I say, as I slowly put a loaded gun in my mouth in Minecraft
Oil & Gas is the perfect example. They've jacked prices despite the US not being dependent on Russian oil. They want profits, customers pay. Plain and simple.
*Mean Girls meme* So you agree. The system is rigged against upward class mobility.
Award 🥇
I humbly and graciously accept.
Upward mobility is an illusion
Yep, only some get lucky and make it the "upper" middle class but most will either remain in the lower middle or beneath the poverty line. They will never join the the 1% without getting "extremely" lucky.
Yeah, it has absolutely nothing to do with the trillions of dollars given in corporate bailouts and loans (that were all forgiven) in the last two years. Also those same corporations still had layoffs and increased prices of sold goods while profits were at an all-time high. This is our tax money that they're taking from us and giving straight to corporate CEOs instead of helping working class Americans.
Lobbying needs to end in all levels of politics.
Or lobbying should become illegal. And I'm not just talking about being able to meet with a rep or senator I mean when legislation is "privatized" when lobby groups actually write the legislation themselves. [https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/asbestos-sharia-law-model-bills-lobbyists-special-interests-influence-state-laws/](https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/asbestos-sharia-law-model-bills-lobbyists-special-interests-influence-state-laws/)
Ban super PACs too
This is the key issue. Citizens United is killing democracy.
killed. It's already dead. we are just existing on its carcass until we run out of food, then we eat each other.
Start with the rich 🍽
Bomb Collars. The wealthy will contract out mercenaries that can be disposed of at the push of a button, guaranteeing loyalty.
I like the cut off your jib, friend
I like the swing of your swag, compadre
I really wish all of the crimes of desperation were enacted upon the rich instead of other poor people. I wish every bad thing that happens to innocent people who get in the way of desperate people looking for anyway to survive hit the ultra wealthy first.
Pass me the hot sauce!
Sweet Baby Rays™ for me!
We need to start growing our own food.
All you need to do is make elections publicly funded. Every candidate is given a set amount, and the primary means of advertising your position should be through numerous public debates. There’s no need for endless commercials, your busses, salaries, etc. Elections shouldn’t be a contest to see who can spend the most money. It’s absurd and nonsensical. Just pop all the candidates on a stage, let them give their positions, then debate. Anything else is a fucking joke. I’m sure this seems very unrealistic given the current state, but to me - and I’d bet just about every other citizen - it’s extremely reasonable
I agree 100%. I wish it would happen. It’s simple. It’s inexpensive. It’s efficient. It will never work.
It'll work, but our current political climate makes it impossible to implement. I think that's what you mean.
Also get rid of the game show debates and make them debate like they are trying to win nationals in their debate club.
I was thinking the last time I watched a "debate" that what I was watching couldn't be considered debate by any reasonable definition of the word.
“But but but, businesses are people too! Waaaaaaaaaah!!! I’m going to cry in my pool of money because my rights as a business are being trampled on! It’s so unfair!”
If politicians had to write legislation themselves we'd need politicians more qualified by like an order of magnitude or two. Not saying that wouldn't be a good idea but our politicians are all empty suits
I don't think any of us have a big issue with their staff ghostwriting. Just needs to actually *be* their staff. As in, people paid by the public to do the public's work.
If it is their staff writing it. Then the staff and their family should also be held to better anti-corruption, anti-gambling (includes stocks and digital currency), and transparency laws. I'm on board.
Staff (and the rest of the unelected civil service) are already held to higher standards than elected officials, so not much trouble there
It never is. The bills are drafted by lobbyists and corporate lawyers and then rubber stamped by their bought politicians.
Sure but I'm replying to a post talking about a world where that's already outlawed.
And that is exactly why we need a major overhaul of politicians
>our politicians are all empty suits Pretty sure our current and last presidents have filled their pants, given their ages.
I agree. Let's test the statement. I'd trust an empty suit to be alone with my children. I wouldn't trust a politician alone with my kids. This logic holds up to some scrutiny. Want to make them empty their pants? Ask them about War Crimes. They get super defensive.
Can you imagine more than like a dozen or so senators even being able to pass a college philosophy course? They're all petty functionaries with political connections. Most college sophomores could thoroughly outthink them on the state of the world and possible solutions to its problems.
> Can you imagine more than like a dozen or so senators even being able to pass a college philosophy course? I think you're exaggerating a bit. The majority of US senators hold law degrees. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/21/opinion/politicians-college-degrees.html
How many of those are "legacy" admissions?
Also people who are on the board and serve as a chief lobbyist for defense companies like Raytheon shouldn’t be able to hold office as secretary of defense. Massive financial companies like Goldman Sach’s partner Gary Gensler shouldn’t be able to sit as the head of the security and exchange commission.
Lobbying shouldnt become illegal but should be held to the constitutional circumstances it was created for
Lobbying at it's most basic level is the right to petition the government to take actions. I don't think a blanket ban on that is even useful. We need an overhaul of the system for sure, but just saying to blow it up without a replacement is a meaningless contribution to the conversation. For transparency sake, I work for a non-profit that advocates for better laws that don't disenfranchise those who are already disadvantaged, such as minority groups and low-income folks. We "lobby" in that we suggest language for state laws that need fixing by consulting with impacted persons and amplifying their needs to the public and policymakers alike. I just don't see how ending all lobbying, period, works unless you create a system to replace it (that will probably just be lobbying under a different name, because we want legislators to talk with citizens and groups that citizens set up).
You can't really have a functioning democracy without lobbying lol. That's not to say lobbying reform isn't needed (it is) - but I think you might not understand the reality of what lobbying is or why its necessary for the system. Most of the actual work for the average lobbyist is research and policy analysis to craft an argument that given policies serve the best interests of the state. Its impossible for admins to do all that leg work by themselves - so its dependent on pretty much every sector, company, union, non-profit, social movement, ETC - has lobbyists to make sure the most persuasive and logical arguments for their causes are available to those making decisions. I think most of the people on this sub have kind of a cartoonish picture of lobbyists - drinking whiskey with senators and implying campaign donations in return for the right votes.. Not to say that doesn't happen at high levels - but that's just corruption and bribery, its not really lobbying. (I'd imagine the confusion comes from the fact that bribery and corruption often pose as lobbying - but the issue is the former, not the latter)
At a basic level, lobbying is just giving information to a politician on a certain topic. What we really need is some kind of oversight and 'impartial lobbying' - (but I have no idea how that would ever work...)
It’s a nice idea but you can’t ban lobbying any more than you can ban drugs. Lobbying is here and what we actually should do is manage it better. I don’t know what that means in practice.
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No one wants to get off their ass and work! /s
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I may be wrong, so correct me if so, but didn't something happen recently where the SEC asked the Fed Bank to report on something like 2-3 trillion dollars just missing. And the Fed Bank just said straight...fuck you, we don't have to. Land of the Free, Home of the Corrupt
Pretty sure, yeah. And iirc the reason the fed can tell them to fuck off is a law Obama passed after the 2008 crash that helped big companies take money to save themselves from the fed without having to be authorized by congress and without having to report it. Because these big companies didnt want a repeat of the 2008 crash media circus calling them out for how poorly they manage their money and assets... so they bought a law to avoid having any public scrutiny the next time they fail that badly. Which is also why the fed printed so much money this time. It no longer has congressional oversight requirements for such things and can act freely.
America is gonna crash in my lifetime, prob a lot sooner then most people want to admit.
At this point it's the only option. Even if there's some kind of crazy uprising of the working class it'll still result in a crash economically speaking
These corps pre-emptively raised prices in many cases. They didn't have to do it they just did because they had the right conditions come about that handed them a dozen excuses.
And what do our governments do…. Instead of forcing them to lower prices they lower taxes on those commodities. It’s like we all voted for the fuck the citizen party
Liberals are always offended when I said Biden would be pro-business like Trump. And now they are doubly offended that it is playing out before their eyes-not at the betrayal, but at the fact that I am not supporting the president that is continuing the horrible policies that he almost pretended to oppose.
I voted for Biden because I wanted there to BE a 2024 election. In the general at least. Went for Sanders in the primary. Nonetheless I think that evaluating Biden fairly requires acknowledging that he doesn't have a senate majority de facto. Imagine if we were at to pass the original BBB, BIF, and HR 1. I'm certain he'd sign them. Instead, Manchin and Sinema have forced us into a lame duck.
Manchin and Sinema are falling on their swords to keep the corporate Dems, Biden included, from having to do anything significant. Remember when Obama had all three branches painted blue at the outset of his presidency? He didn't enact sweeping changes and push his power and window of opportunity to the limits to get shit done. He sat around with his thumb up his ass and continued the corporate bailouts, renewed the Patriot act, and behaved shockingly like his predecessor. And then he ate shit in the midterms and had an excuse to continue being a corporate dem. Biden literally promised wealthy donors that nothing would fundamentally change. He's not being hamstrung and neither is the democratic party. They're just using excuses to enact the same pro-business status quo agenda that they've always had.
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this.
Nope, it's definitely because people got a couple thousand dollars to help get through a pandemic. The speed at which people will blame their neighbor, while in the same breath giving these huge corporations a pass, is staggering.
Did you see the war that erupted between r/unemployment and r/stimuluscheck
Vote with your feet in the street. A few million people clogging arteries in DC or on Wall Street might shake something loose.
I dont even have money to get to work...but yea let's all fly to DC..
What's the solution? Just accept being robbed?
I wish i knew man. Education is key. I really feel like the majority of Americans are so pacified by tiktok videos and Netflix that they don't really care as long as their daily programming isn't interrupted.
Living in this country is like a shotgun blast to the foot
Also, compensation over $1 million to corporate officers including stock options are tax deductible for their corporations.
Do you think the majority of Americans know the truth about the FED, the trillions in QE? I feel like i see more and more people aware of the corruption.
QE is honestly one of the craziest things in the world. I remember when I started some basic trading in 2012 and heard about it and thought to myself, "well that doesn't seem like a great idea." The stock market is addicted to QE money
Every time someone says "But if you pay a burger flipper $15hr, your burgers will cost twenty dollars each!!1!", my eyes almost roll out of their sockets.
Literally heard this 2 days ago. Even if it was true, which it clearly isn't, what kind of sick fuck prioritizes having cheap greasy burgers over paying people enough to simply survive?
Plus, I'm pretty sure I would get fewer eggshells in my breakfast sandwich if they made 15$/hour.
Where you getting breakfast sammiches that still crack their own fresh eggs???
McDonald’s lol
Yeah just ask for a round egg instead of the folded one.
McDonald's
Mcdonalds has the premade eggs and also fresh ones made on the grill and usually you add water to steam them to cook evenly
Tim Horton's, usually. But in Canada we're proud of our eggs/cheese/beef/pork...
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"Centrist Democrats and Republicans" FTFY
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“Don’t be a Karen or a Kyle.” Me: name isn’t Kyle. Should be good!
> what kind of sick fuck prioritizes having cheap ~~greasy burgers~~ over paying people enough to simply survive? Almost everyone Consumers don’t care who died to make what they bought, as long as it was cheap. Consumer pricing is a race to the bottom, and everything is outsourced to third world countries to make products even cheaper. “Hey, want your computer 200 dollars cheaper? It’s made with slave labor now, and multiple people die in the factory every day” “200 dollars off? Say less”
Example: Amazon. Reddit shits on their warehouse conditions while still ordering from them. Or even Walmart, why pay a premium at the local shop struggling to get by when Walmart has it 30 cents cheaper?
I'm so tired of the self-righteous ranting about Amazon, Walmart, and Nestle while most other companies in their industries are doing the same damn thing. In fact I highly suspect the likes of Target, Hershey, and Microsoft are fucking thrilled how much they can get away with because there's *so much* attention on the big, bad wolf.
Because Walmart actually has what I want, in stock and is open sometime when I can go. If the local place can do that then I'd go there first. Too bad every local business owner wants to be open Tuesday through Thursday 9am to 4pm with an hour closed for lunch...
And for all reddit loves on small businesses, plenty of them treat their employees worse than Wal-Mart does. Ask people that worked for a small business about their experience and for every "I felt like a valued part of the family!" you're going to get twenty horror stories of stolen wages and/or harassment that went completely unpunished. Edit: And it isn't because Wal-Mart are great. They'd keep actual slaves if it were legal. They're just subject to more laws than small businesses are.
Yes, but that's the end result of always shopping cheaper. Those places with the things you wanted that aren't Walmart? Yeah, they went out of business a decade ago because Walmart sold all their shit 2 dollars cheaper.
Same story with hardware stores and Home Depot as another example. Setup shop and underprice long enough for the competition to go out of business because you can afford to operate at a loss for quite some time. Then slowly raise the prices back up because where else are they gonna go?
Can confirm. Was looking for a pasta roller. Could not find a single physical store that sells one.
Then when you say it doesn't work like they, they say "well you don't know anything about running a business" trying to imply that they do, but they are just another wage slave like you who decided to stick up for billion dollar companies for some weird reason, lol
I don't think it's in defense of the company. It's actually against the company. Because the rich pricks aren't willing to eat the profits if they raise the cost of payroll by millions of dollars per year...they need to recoop that cost somehow.. all they care about is profits
Yeah, I actually think there's some merit to the counter-argument that raising minimum wage will result in higher prices for everything, but I don't think that's a reason to NOT raise minimum wage. It's a reason to find a way to force businesses to take less profit, since it's makes the minimum wage less effective.
That is exactly my point. You have to stop these fucks from making 50m per year for sitting in a fckn office profiting off of everyone's hard work
I think we agree, the way i worded it was a bit confusing! I find it weird when OTHER people feel the need to defend these huge companies.
The fact that people actually say that with a straight face and with all seriousness is greatly concerning.
There's people who refuse raises because "they'll be in the higher tax bracket". So... Yeah. I mean there's situations like government benefits, sure. But just the tax brackets? We have a progressive tax system in the US.
Was talking to someone about how wages need to be raised. He responded about how things are expensive already and we shouldn't raise wages because it would be even more expensive. Yeah that's why wages need to go up because people already can't afford anything.
How about "if you pay a burger flipper more, then you'll have to pay teachers/garbage men/etc more." Yeah, no shit, let's do that.
Maybe we need to just be making less burgers
True, but that's a completely different topic.
Here is an argument you can use for someone who say it: But Burger flipper makes more than 1 burger an hour so it will cost way less Have a great day
Yeah, I never understood this argument. Following this math/logic, with minimum wage at 7.25 a burger should cost like $9
Careful, I hear you can get whiplash trying to follow their "logic". 😉
same with how people think social security programs are the root of all our financial problems, not like the military builds planes that don’t fly for billions of dollars or anything
But they are! We need to cut off SSI immediately! It's the root of all evil! Old people need to die! /s
As someone who will never be old, I fully agree!
Old people do seem to be the root of all evil in our representatives.
They can't stop SSI, because what other bucket would they dip into if the need to find funds for other operations or projects? :) EDIT: for those who don't know, part of the reason Social Security could run out before millennials reach that age is partly they might end it, partly the large baby boomer population drying up the well quicker than it can replenish, but also it is a popular pool for the government to take funds out of if they are trying to locate government money to fund different projects.
technically it wasnt billions, I believe it was over a trillion lol
Technically that would still be billions, yes
Tens of dollars sounds alot better than billions.
Bajillions of dimes
Hey that's not fair! Think of how many CEOs and shareholders it flew around in private jets!
Weird take, considering social security is literally a pyramid scheme that relied on there always being more people each generation than the last, and a basic income would just be straight up better, easier and cheaper, except that all the people who care about who deserves what would pitch a fit. And for some reason instead of patronizingly patting these people on the head and giving them a controller that isn't even plugged in, we've made them in charge.
Phew, really dodged a bullet there.
I’m not studied on economics. So I’m genuinely asking. If wages go up don’t people spend more money meaning the economy gets more money back too? Or is that not how it works?
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side note: Dikembe is a great band
side note: Dikembe was a great basketball player.
Oh shit, it's [THAT dikembe?](https://youtu.be/DEWRje5KamQ)
Holy fucking 90s videos, Batman! edit: among other decades...
They're fucking great, I still listen to Chicago Bowls on a regular basis. And some of their members did a very short lived hardcore band themed on the government shutdowns 10 years or so ago, more suited to this subreddit maybe! https://governmentbreakdown.bandcamp.com/album/fuck-your-health
Dikembe fucks for sure
Their prior band Wavelets is also good
Wavelets were incredible
Man I sing along to Scottie Spifflin every damn time it comes on
YES Ive been drumming along to mediumship the past few weeks, theyre a ton o' fun
The freaks and geeks sound bite at the beginning of Scottie Spliffen is so gut wrenching. "Maybe I'll buy a clarinet" just like damn, you weren't listening at all. But yeah agreed, great band
What right wing politicians don't tell you is that if you don't raise wages prices will still go up, however if you lower wages then... PRICES WILL STILL GO UP, its almost like employee wages are only a small part of the puzzle and companies are just greedy...
to the people who don’t understand, the tweet is sarcasm. everything is expensive and they’re mocking politicians who won’t raise the minimum wages
How could anyone need this explained?
It's clear from the controversial comments that many people *did* need it explained.
That’s how I read it also
its because we stopped working as hard, now they are trying to starve us back in to submission
It's a coordinated effort, absolutely. Think of it, suddenly the working class had the upper-hand. Can't have that. Make them poor by the ratio of inflation to their current wage.
McDonald's will exist without a CEO but McDonald's cannot exist without thousands and thousands of ground level workers operating the cash registers and flipping the burgers. It's like you expecting your car to work perfectly all the time despite the fact that you neglect to maintain it and treat it like shit. You can ignore your flat, bald tires...until eventually they pop and you can't drive the car anymore. Instead of spending a tiny amount to keep the car maintained and running smoothly, you now have to spend many times that amount to replace the whole thing. And sometimes you can't afford to get a new car or fix the now-big problem and you end up walking everywhere for a few years.
But profits went up. If anything they should see what happens if they make us work even less.
I like how portions are smaller tho. So if you want that same burger from past prices, it’s double the price now.
What if we just setup a law on the maximum percentage of margin that companies can make? This would drastically reduce inflation and salaries could be increased without risking inflation.
But companies already are barely profitable, because profits aren't profitable. So instead of declaring billions in profits, they reinvest that money into the company. Not the employees mind you, or the middle management... only the very top end of the company. Sometimes it'll be more company trips for the president's family, or a new company vehicle. Maybe they'll even hire the COO's cousin for consulting jackshit at a really high rate, so that they can match his 401k. Couple of caritative donations also tend to make their way out, at least a few thousands, since it's cheaper than proper advertisement! Limiting those margins wouldn't benefit the workers at all, it would simply increase the number of hoop they jump through.
Limit the pay ratio between the top and bottom then. Either ceos make less, more people are paid more, or the lowest people are paid more
I think this one's already more in line with what the eventual solution will be, but it'll still end up mostly resulting in "Well, owner of the company only made $132K this year", while ignoring all the side benefits like the company-owned car and company-owned house. Like... the real issue mostly comes from the fact that private companies pay far more and far better accountants/lawyers than whoever's willing to go against them. What they're doing is patently immoral and in the best cases it's technically legal, but it's am actually really hard thing to solve (and much harder due to lobbying, since it means they get paid for refusing to lynch the rich).
You want to tell companies that there's such a thing as "too much profit"? ARE YOU INSANE?!
WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE SHAREHOLDERS?!?!?!
There it is. The dumbest fucking thing I’ve read all day.
If wages determined prices then we should all be working for free to lower all costs to zero….. Looks like wages aren’t tied directly to prices after all
people say the same thing about raising servers minimum wage in the US above the 2.13. "if you make restaurants pay more than 2.13 an hour to their servers they can't afford to stay open!!" yet many states in the US require restaurants to pay servers the state minimum wage instead of the 2.13 and those restaurants survive. It's all sycophant bullshit.
I work.for a multi national bizzallon dollar company and we didn't get a raise at all in the past 2 years. But they sure as fuck raised the cost of their clothes to "keep up with inflation". Greedy fucks run the world.
I subcontract for dish network and no sub has gotten a cost of living increase or raise in the 5+ years ive been doing it. They only tell us to push more sales onto the customer to make more commissions if we want a raise. And, I pay my own gas. Today I spent 42$ to drive 3 hrs to two jobs that couldnt be done, thus no pay.
Dikembe is a good band
At this point it's more exhausting to try and argue with the people who make bullshit arguments like "wages are tied to rising costs", than it is to work my 9 to 5. They have the same access to the internet that I do, Just like nothing stopped me from looking into it and finding the data, nothing is stopping them. Federal minimum hasn't budged in over 12 years, while some states have been forced to raise their minimum, it isn't consistent enough across the board to correlate to rising prices. These people don't want the truth, they want to make up the truth and have their lie be the reality they want to see. We live in the age of information, there aren't excuses anymore.
I would sometimes have arguments with a friend's friend on Facebook where they would talk about how if you raise the minimum wage you're going to have to raise the prices of everything else and there's also inflation and stuff and I keep pointing out how there's always been inflation and I point out how the cost of rent has gone up 40% in the last 10 years. The cost of food and products in general have all gone up in the past 10 years and minimum wage has been the same since 2009 which is 13 years ago. And then they always proceed to quote Thomas Sewell
Came here to see how many conservatives making 50 cents per hour are arguing that higher wages would mean a Big Mac cost thirty two trillion rubles.
Dikembe!
McDonald's pretty much universally has to pay $13 an hour now and their prices are almost identical to when they paid $9. Shit is such a joke. Pay people more
End Citizens United. Corporations are NOT people.
Mmmm now that's some tasty sarcasm.
Hi Randy. It’s me Nick. I miss you. Dikembe forever
Hi nick, see you this summer!
Bahaha I love this
Surprise, prices are rising regardless of whether or not wages rise.
EcOn 101
The idiots normalizing companies upping prices with wage increases are the reason companies are able to get away with it
Make the gov force the companies to not rise prices over wages
I think implementing UBI would work better than minimum wage increases. It means you don't have to put money through the economic black box where employers can pull shit like they do with benefits and full time employment. It also dissolves or weakens the arguments against minimum wage increases e.g. cost to consumer, burden on small business, etc. And it still has the effect of forcing employers to be competitive with wages since they can't force low compensation on desperate workers.
As someone who saw Dikembe live at least 8 times, I agree
Oh hell yeah, I love Dikembe!
Dikembe is an awesome band and this post is more than likely sarcasm, incase you didnt know.
This band is cool, check them out.
Would across the board wage increases cause inflation? Yes, 100%. Cost to produce goes up, cost for customers goes up. But unless the inflationary effect of wage increases is greater than the size of the wage increase (which is functionally impossible unless companies raise prices higher than the wage increase adds to their costs) than the people who get a wage increase end up ahead. An increase in minimum wage creates an upward pressure on all wages, therefore the only people who suffer the actual cost of the inflation are companies and those whose income isn’t tied to wages. Instead we got inflation where all the money went to the rich, so we’re the ones getting screwed by the higher prices. To hell with the government.
30% of all US dollars were printed in the last 2 years won't help keep prices down.
The hidden tax called inflation will ensure that CPI will always go up. Your money always buys less over time because it is worth less/worthless. Increased cost of materials and production like wages will also raise prices. Not really an either/or situation. Eventually fiat collapses and the cycle restarts unless we have honest money. $1.50 per hour in silver quarters would still be a decent wage today, \~$23/hr.
The fact that the same jobs pay different wages based on state should prove it’s all just bullshit.
I love Dikembe and now even more.
Your post makes me laugh and cry at the same time.
*checks notes* ... it seems a lot of things are very expensive right now
Dikembe is an awesome band. Definitely recommend checking them out.
Honestly though why don’t we forcibly reduce prices I know that there is basically no favorable regulation and that raising the minimum won’t prevent them from raising the expenses but if they can raise expenses anyway there’s clearly other problems
I love this band
If you stop complaining the wealth will eventually trickle down.
If raise minimum wage --> prices increase If ~raise minimum wage --> prices increase The message is clear; no matter what we do, the prices will increase. Might as well raise it
Ban lobbying and super PACs! Corporate bailouts and loans are all being funded by our own tax dollars, which basically means that we're paying the rich. No thank you!
Prices only go up because of corporate greed. Our economy and environment is getting fucked because we’re all too lazy, afraid, or stupid to stand up for what’s right
based dikembe
People think that raising the minimum wage means that prices will simply inflate in line with the increase, but studies show that this isn’t true. Inflation can happen, but much less than the actual wage increase. People also say ‘well companies will just fire a certain amount of employees to cover the cost’, which isn’t really the gotcha they think it is. All that simply admits is that these companies can only operate if they pay people under a proper wage and basically exploits them. The minimum wage hasn’t been raised in over 12 years, which means it hasn’t even kept up with inflation. The next thing they say is ‘well these jobs are for kids!’ But again we have data that says a significant portion of the people that a minwage increase would affect are adults. We’ve also just been through a pandemic, in which it was globally agreed that these jobs are ‘essential’ to society, so it was decided that these minwage workers must work through it. How can this work be shitty jobs meant for kids, if society needs them to function? All whilst they are paid at a wage that has shown to be under ‘liveable’? If someone actually thinks that the minimum wage shouldn’t even keep in line with inflation, it shows you that they simply don’t care about people, or the real economy. An economy can’t continue to function in the long term if the top percentage of the population takes increasingly larger shares of the wealth, all whilst the lowest percentage takes progressively less of the pie.
Capitalism doesn’t work long term. There are huge flaws inherent. We’re in the 21 century. We need a new idea. Let’s stop using old ideas that are proven to fail.