Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamplighter
I don't buy the bullet points pushed by pundits when "raising the minimum wage" is discussed.
One of the current hallmarks of today's economy is "high productivity"
I think that just means that employers are getting more product out of every employee.
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Not "employee", but "payroll dollar". There's no such thing as people to The Man, only numbers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamplighter
But it also probably means they are paying the least amount of wages they can,
and their employees are working about as hard as they can.
If such is the case, employers are not as likely to lay off the workers they have now.
If they did, there were be fewer products and lower profits.
Consider a restaurant, if they laid off waiters/waitresses or cooks,
fewer meals would be served, and profits would go down
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In the short term, profits would go up. Fewer meals wouldn't be served, right off the bat, they'd just take longer to get to the table, people would have to wait to order, etc. When customers stopped coming for those reasons is when fewer meals would be served and profits would drop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamplighter
Instead, I think they will just pay the new minimum wages, and move on.
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I doubt it. American business isn't like Japanese business - they don't think long term. They see the short term improvement and think it will just continue. Six months later, they fold.