this post was submitted on 04 May 2024
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A Boring Dystopia
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I wish I knew the answer to this, but I don't think a dollar amount floor on labor in fiat currency is it. That'll just find a new equilibrium in a devalued currency.
I don't write this because I disagree with the sentiment. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment.
But wealth isn't about dollars. It's about assets. For day to day living, it's about real estate.
I just wrote out a whole bunch of thoughts but I don't think they're applicable to the topic.
Maybe do things like:
Unoccupied residential real estate is taxed at some obscene percentage of assessed value.
No individual may own more than ten living spaces (apartments are a need, and somebody's got to own them)
Entities (looking at you black rock) may not own residential real estate.
REITS are absolutely off the table.
Water is a public good and Nestle can get fucked
Student debt and medical debt are capped at some percentage of income formula.
And to get really crazy, instead of minimum wage, employers must demonstrate that employees can afford two bedrooms with no more than twenty five percent of gross wages.
I'm drinking beer and watching rich people ride horses. These are casual thoughts without citation and are not intended for academic review or criticism.
No this has been thoroughly disproven. the total amount of dollars doesn't change, it just moves from the wealthy back to the workers. Raising wages doesn't cause inflation, corporations raising prices does, so raising the minimum wage is just one piece of it. The myth that raising wages causes inflation is argued that more money for workers creates more demand for commodities which raises the prices, but again, the total amount of currency doesn't change. You're not going to buy 7 cartons of eggs just because you make more money, and spending it doesn't make it more scarce. You'll buy as much as you need for the week just like last week, except now you don't have to choose between food and going to the Dr.
Real economic inflation or deflation is caused when the amount of currency doesn't match the amount of production. Or to simplify, money is representative of something that was produced, and can be exchanged for commodities; and the whole money supply is representative of the whole productive capacity of a nation (or issuing body). Paying people more doesn't lower production, it would theoretically stay the same though experiments have proven that productivity increases. Raising wages raises the amount of money that businesses make because there is more money in circulation, it isn't just sitting in accounts collecting interest. Increase in demand actually drives hiring more workers.
Lots of nice ideas in your post but none of it are demands that bring workers together to organize and fight for what they deserve, we have to hope that some politician will give it to us. Fighting for wage increases does mobilize workers, and it has only ever been organized mobilizations of workers that have driven economic changes under capitalism.
I'd vote for you
I think you forgot that corporations are people too, thanks to the utterly inestimable contribution to your society of your "supreme court"
And to get really crazy, instead of minimum wage, employers must demonstrate that employees can afford two bedrooms with no more than twenty five percent of gross wages.
Stuff like that always backfires. You lose the businesses altogether, now nobodies got nothing.
I believe the standard counter to that is that if you can't meet that standard then you either shouldn't have employees or you shouldn't have a business
That's a brain dead retort, utilized by people that don't think, just repeat ideas they heard elsewhere and barely understand. Note, I ain't saying that to you in particular. Brings to mind the rent controlled buildings standing vacant in NY, because it's below input/maintenance to rent out.