40 Hour Work Week In Peril?

[Acevalefor]

Well this month I made 37k in USD, but this month was unusual. Last year I made 110k. I'm 27yo and live in Europe. I pay for all my expenses.

I have met many people with no higher education that make 300k/year. Simply because there is a high demand for labor where I live.

This is why I believe you are nowhere near qualified to talk about wages in America and/or the relation of wages to social services. I am glad you are well off and live comfortably across the pond but please stick to topics that you know something about or prove your infinite knowledge about the free market in America.

[test123]

I'm not saying people will be making $5/hr for the rest of their lives, just to get the economy going so labor will be in greater demand. Americans has voted into congress people that promise too much and take too little. Now Americans must pay the price for their actions.

[Callisto]

Where'd you get your economics degree? You have a very interesting interpretation of how labor demand works. I'm very curious how paying people below poverty levels, even temporarily, will jump-start the economy.

[test123]

A person making $5/hr will pay for some of his own basic needs plus adding to the GDP. This person will create a chain reaction by inputing labor instead of not working. He provides a service which benefits costumers. The person also creates demand for raw goods which benefit suppliers. Thus growing the economy.

Should the person instead be sitting at home the rest of society would have to pick up the slack just to even out. The person is suddenly costing society upwards of $10/hr in various expenses.

I say it is better to let the person make $5/hr and give him $5/hr extra. The net loss is only $5 instead of $15 with the benefit of labor being inputed, generating growth.

[kuronosan]

Yup. You're an idiot.

[Helm]

BUT COME ON GUYS, ALL THOSE MOOCHERS WILL BE WORKING.

[Xajii]

My head actually physically hurts from how fucking stupid test is.

[Callisto]

I'm still hoping for the best-case scenario, that he's just a relatively ineffective troll, and those aren't actual real beliefs/opinions. I'm bored enough so I guess I'll at least make an attempt.

Again, you're making a very silly connection between a company's profit margin, which is increased if they are not required to pay their employees a reasonable living wage, and job creation. Job creation is not tied to a company's profits, it is tied to demand for the company's product. Furthermore, a person making $5/hr is in no way contributing to the demand for raw goods any more than they would be on government aid, because in America $5/hour does not come remotely close to buying you shelter and utilities, much less actual consumable products or tangible assets. They would be adding nothing to demand, because they can't afford to be consumers.

[Day]

A person making $5/hr will pay for some of his own basic needs plus adding to the GDP. This person will create a chain reaction by inputing labor instead of not working. He provides a service which benefits costumers. The person also creates demand for raw goods which benefit suppliers. Thus growing the economy.

Should the person instead be sitting at home the rest of society would have to pick up the slack just to even out. The person is suddenly costing society upwards of $10/hr in various expenses.

I say it is better to let the person make $5/hr and give him $5/hr extra. The net loss is only $5 instead of $15 with the benefit of labor being inputed, generating growth.

[Xajii]

I'm still hoping for the best-case scenario, that he's just a relatively ineffective troll, and those aren't actual real beliefs/opinions. I'm bored enough so I guess I'll at least make an attempt.

Again, you're making a very silly connection between a company's profit margin, which is increased if they are not required to pay their employees a reasonable living wage, and job creation. Job creation is not tied to a company's profits, it is tied to demand for the company's product. Furthermore, a person making $5/hr is in no way contributing to the demand for raw goods any more than they would be on government aid, because in America $5/hour does not come remotely close to buying you shelter and utilities, much less actual consumable products or tangible assets. They would be adding nothing to demand, because they can't afford to be consumers.

Yeah, I mean, completely apart from the ridiculous notion that $5/hr would do anything for that person...

Where do the jobs come from? Lower wages -> more money for the company, but it does not -> more work. No company ever is going to say "Oh, we'll let you work the same hours but do half the work and have this other guy come in and also work the same hours and do the other half".

[Ksandra]

Hiring more burger-flippers doesn't make more people want to go eat at McDonald's. All that's going to happen is CEO's are going to get EVEN MORE money in their pockets.

It's amazing how society never changes. It's always about making sure the little guys get fucked while the big guys keep getting bigger.

[Melena]

Test obviously has no grasp that most companies use the bare amount of workers to maximize profits. No where would lowering the minimum wage cause for an increase in labor.

Actually the dumb just really hit me. Do we really have a guy who claims to make over 100k a year USD, living in Europe, a Rand Paul supporter, claiming he knows what's best for the American economy?

[ronin sparthos]

"I have met many people with no higher education that make 300k/year."

This is the part where he went full tilt trollin'

[djzombie]

This is the part where he went full tilt trollin'

Trollin so hard he needs an outboard motor.

Actually the dumb just really hit me. Do we really have a guy who claims to make over 100k a year USD, living in Europe, a Rand Paul supporter, claiming he knows what's best for the American economy?

He would probably have a different opinion if he was making anywhere near US minimum wage and every week had to decide what bills he wasn't going to pay so he could feed his family instead.

[Plow]

won't someone think of the

[djzombie]

won't someone think of the [chillins]

only if we can get rid of those pesky child labor laws in addition to the minimum wage.

[Callisto]

the girth of Captain America in that is oddly appropriate

[Correction]

A person making $5/hr will pay for some of his own basic needs plus adding to the GDP. This person will create a chain reaction by inputing labor instead of not working. He provides a service which benefits costumers. The person also creates demand for raw goods which benefit suppliers. Thus growing the economy.

Should the person instead be sitting at home the rest of society would have to pick up the slack just to even out. The person is suddenly costing society upwards of $10/hr in various expenses.

I say it is better to let the person make $5/hr and give him $5/hr extra. The net loss is only $5 instead of $15 with the benefit of labor being inputed, generating growth.

http://static.tumblr.com/51817fdaff9...qnm1qzqx72.gif

[Tarage]

Dude someone is cosplaying as a Power Ranger zord. Awesome.

[Soa]

Just to reinforce the point that company profit does not correlate to job growth, the company I work for recently announced that they have set a new profit and revenue record for the 13th straight quarter. During this time they have laid off about 40% of its workforce and plan to lay off 900 more this summer. They have also cut out shift differential and reduced holidays from 3x pay to 1.5x pay. The workload on my department alone has doubled and we went from 10 people last year to 6 this year. They are also saying they will probably lay more off next year. Hell we have one IT department now that handles every hardware, software, and security issue for 40k+ workers and it takes months sometimes to get something resolved. I put in a request for a logon id for one of the hospitals we work with and 2 months later its still sitting there unresolved.

Besides that, how in the fuck is lowering someones hourly wage by 20%+ going to get them out of poverty and off government assistance? I mean christ even if the demand for jobs goes up (it won't) they are just going to be filled by people with existing jobs getting a second one to make ends meet. All it does is compound an existing problem exponentially, and of course make rich people even richer, because that's what is really important after all.