Reply to Help me understand the impact of a $15 minimum wage?

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Help me understand the impact of a $15 minimum wage? "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

You use this word, feudalistic, do you know what it means? Income inequality was a symptom of feudalism but there are a wide variety of factors that can cause income inequality. Anyone who has studied the global economy in the past century knows that the present income inequality within the US is caused by dual factors of increased low-wage labor supply and globalization. Before you burst a blood vessel, I am not here to tell you what is good or bad, just what is. Globalization has been a net positive for the US as our broad economy has been able to shift significantly towards activities that have higher productivity. As a result, we see significant growth in the income levels of the top two income quintiles. As a result, the present decrease in the number of people in the middle class is [b]largely [/b]due to a migration to the upper-middle class. I say largely because there is also a smaller portion that went to the lower-income class. The cause for this is due to the divergence of wages to per-capita GDP that occurred in the early 70s. This was in turn caused by significant growth in the supply of low/lower-skilled labor as a result of new immigration policies and increased women's participation in the labor market. Again, I'm not here to tell you what is good or bad, just what is. The immigration act of 1965 significantly tilted the US immigration policy away from western countries in Europe, towards less developed parts of the world, in order to encourage diversity. The result of this is that immigration into the US exploded since the act and the immigrants tend to be lower-skilled on average. These immigrants compete with existing low-skilled workers in the US, driving wages lower. Women entering the workforce also tend to be in lower-skilled positions, further discouraging wage growth. [b]The combination of globalism and oversupply of lower-skill labor resulted in the present situation where the US has effectively two different economic systems: one for high-skilled workers, and one for low-skilled workers, resulting in significant income inequalities. [/b]
[/quote]
1. You need to learn to use paragraphs. (But I still read this.)
2. I never disputed any of these trends, but I think they oversimplify. Why, because they don't really account for the growing capitalistic "rentier" class, which distorts the economy in many, many ways.

There are actually three systems in the US: high-skilled workers, low-skilled workers, and asset-holders (i.e. rentier capitalists). The biggest problem I see in our economy is a failure to be honest about that third group. To use a timely example, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have demonstrated themselves to be more or less incapable of doing anything useful or productive (not sure whether to characterize them as high- or low-skilled...they have fancy degrees but don't appear to have learned anything in school), yet they have a high income, much of which comes rents off of assets that they own (in Kushner's case, literal rents). Their income and wealth is completely divorced from their productivity [b]or[/b] their skills.

I think that the disparity in wealth between high-skilled and low-skilled workers is a problem, but I think a far bigger problem is the wealth accumulation at the very top...which, among other things, has given capitalists the ability (through political influence among other things) to hoard all of the benefits of increase productivity for themselves. Yes, increasing the minimum wage will likely lead jobs to be automated away and/or shipped overseas. But that can't be done for every job. And corporations are notoriously short-term. Paying people a living wage will also lead to a more stable and reliable low-skilled workforce, reducing turnover...thereby lowering the overall cost of low-skilled labor. By how much remains to be seen.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics