PhineasC

I don't fundamentally disagree that wages need to go up and the profitability of some large businesses such as Amazon and Walmart needs to be curtailed. But we need to be careful because when this is tried, it usually ends up punishing small businesses instead and the big boys slip away unscathed. People will also need to brace for much higher prices for goods and services, wiping out some of the gains made in wage increases. I suppose the answer to that is larger and larger UBI allocations, but then that turns into an arms race of sorts at that point. Prices go up, so taxes increase to pay more UBI, causing prices to go up. You kind of have to end up with centrally-planned economic communism at that point... maybe that's the intent.

Unfortunately, there is now a push by the Federal govt to ruin these gig economy jobs too...

If that is the case, why are they living at home in record numbers and clamoring to have their school debt paid off? That doesn't sound like a generation that made smart choices right out of the gate. I blame the Boomers also for failing to impart a strong sense of realistic work ethic on their kids and failing to tell them about the true costs/benefits of something like college. So many young people are completely ignorant of financial matters. I'm sure some are making money on YouTube or whatever but let's be real, that's a tiny percentage.

What's going to happen is that prices will increase, many establishments will simply close because the numbers no longer work, some establishments will automate, and others will hire more illegal immigrant labor under the table. You will also see the continued trend towards consolidation as small venues close down in favor of a handful of conglomerates. Already well underway with clothing stores and grocery stores. You are in a really unique and isolated area. Everything I already described is well underway in suburbs outside major cities. There is still room for higher-priced boutique shops in rural VT. In suburban Dallas? Not so much.

I wasn't referring specifically to college grads. Although there is more to work ethic than simply a binary "has a job/doesn't have a job." Plenty of under-employed folks out there who drift from job to job and spend long stretches on unemployment.

A much better use of taxpayer dollars than bailouts of college loans.

We agree, applicants for those jobs don't exist anymore because the work ethic of a lot of people under 30 is shot. Raising wages to 25/hr so you can hire a college grad to stir the pasta sauce is not the answer. LOL

You are definitely not wrong. Work ethic in the the 20-35 crowd is horrendous. Anyone who does hiring knows this, even other business owners in their 20s. There is no hustle anymore and no desire to move up. A smart kid would take one of these lower-paying jobs companies are desperate to fill and before long he'd be running the place.

Meanwhile, there is a chronic shortage of skilled trades workers. Instead of sending your C-student kid off to college for $50k a semester and then wondering why he is drowning in debt and still living at home, maybe consider pushing him to be become an electrician? I guess it's easier now to just demand the taxpayer bail you out of your college debt and then pay you a UBI. LOL

Some folks think you can raise wages to unnaturally-high levels, massively increase taxes, and there will be little change in the cost of goods and services. It all goes back to the modern mistaken belief that the "fat cats" who own local shops and restaurants are raking in tens of millions of dollars in excess profits that they will cough up before raising prices. Schools really need to be teaching basic financial and entrepreneurial concepts to future voters...

Dad in the factory produced a product that was presumably in demand and fetched a good price when sold. It's much harder to quantify productivity and value in a service-based economy like we have now. There have always existed very low-paying jobs for teenagers and young adults who were still living at home. The idea that we need to pay an 18 year old kid enough money to have his own car, apartment, cellphone, and TV with some left over to save when he has zero skills and works the lowest rung job possible is kind of hard to implement without major manipulation of the job market. That approach also makes our desire to import tons of unskilled third world labor even less sensible...

Since it has never been tried at scale I'm not sure how you can make that claim...?

I will also say, should someone be expecting a "livable wage" if they are essentially the towel boy at a hotel? That seems like a big ask and probably not a very natural market outcome.

It's good to pay more in wages, just understand that prices for goods and services will go up as well, especially as the business owners are also getting squeezed by the govt in the form of much higher taxes. Americans have become used to endless consumption of cheap goods and services. We probably need to tailor that back a little and increase wages. But it might be hard for the average American to stomach, and truly many people don't understand how wages are tied to prices. They think they operate independently of each other.

Yep, quite a few big ones around.

I am triple vaxxed and quad masked out here and it does nothing.

I am sitting outside at my place in DE and I am getting freaking coated in tree splooge. It's literally raining down on me as the trees have sex all around me. I have never seen the pollen this bad. I'm ****ing coated, like a damned porno. What the f*ck is going on here?

Yep, back for a bit. The allergies have been something else.

Ugh these allergies are killing us. I can't recall it ever being this bad.

His post was literally a personal attack...

People let me live rent free in their heads.

The countries with very few COVID deaths tend to also be the countries no one cares about... they can lock down tight and the world doesn’t even notice.

Yes so they lock everyone at home instead to cover up their failures.

I sure hope none of that leaks over the border. I say, "no thanks" to quarantine camps.

I definitely can see you as a vaxxed and masked guy for a long time. LOL