Some thoughts on unions (page 17)

garyneal

@Dacheech - "1. the goverment gotta start taxing: imports high-->30-40%," - They'll pass that 30% increase onto you, the consumer.

That's the whole point. Then the price of imported goods would be on par with the price of similar domestic goods.

DaCheech

gary, finally someone agrees with me besides burns!

I really believe what I wrote:

unfortunately even Obama has someone in his pocket to not do the tariff.

........ and the national sales tax: my thoughts are to replace the current one, if they do such at thing--> our goverment will add to it! :-(

XJW you are spot on about having to make a payroll. As a controller for a number of years one of my jobs was to come up with 150,000 or so dollars every other Friday. Yeah, maybe if you're Microsoft or the government or something that isn't a big deal. Most people in this country don't work for outfits like that. The above number involved a company with gross income of a bit under $20 million a year. It was a real estate investment company (mostly apartment buildings). We had mortgages to pay (the banks have to pay their employees), vendors to pay (who had to pay their workers) another 150 grand a month in utility bills, a million or so in real estate taxes etc.

Lisa, are you fine with that guy raising his rents so he can pay his employees more?

Sam Whiskey

EJW - Daaaauuum you're good..... I thought I was the only guy here that "got it".

You're the second. Any others that "get it"?

Can you leave the emotions out? Can you see it for just business and business only?

Sam Whiskey

JeffT - And then there were three....

garyneal

gary, finally someone agrees with me besides burns!

I thought Burns disagreed with a tariff?

Anyway, on the idea of a tariff. Even though it would make the most sense, I feel like it will never fly as far as taxing Chinese goods are concerned because the US owes a lot of money to China.

........ and the national sales tax: my thoughts are to replace the current one, if they do such at thing--> our goverment will add to it! :-(

The main arguments I've seen against it concern it being a regressive tax and would disproportionately affect the poor. Perhaps, but then perhaps we could exempt food, I don't know. A flat tax would be the next best option in my opinion, but unfortunately it will not fly. Too many people like their tax exemptions and tax credits.

garyneal

Sam, I am not totally in disagreement with everything you say. But I must say that a living wage makes sense.

We can say, "Why should a ditch digger expect to be able to afford to feed his family and provide a roof over his head." But the demand is there, why shouldn't he at least expect a decent wage? Besides, if he is not paid a decent wage the disparity has to be made up for somehow. Low income housing, headstart for the kids, food stamps, and medicaid? That's all funded by the tax payer. That's the hidden costs of that low wage ditch digger.

Sam Whiskey

Gary - I agree with your analysis of the Ditch Digger (Poor DD's, hope there are not any here...LOL). Everyone DOES need to make a living wage, but, no one is entitled to a living wage (Like XJW said, it's not a guarantee in the constitution). It's the free market, and it doesn't care if I can make a living wage or not. Here's my point; The process of change has to occur with the DD, not the other way around. In other words, the DD has to say to himself, "Self, you're not making enough money in this DD business, what changes do I need to make in order to make a better wage? I know Doctors make a nice income, maybe I should become a Doctor because the prevailing wage of a Doctor is $75.00/hr. whereas a DD's prevailing wage only $10.00/hr."

This has to be the process, because the market is willing to pay the Doctor whatever the prevailing wage is...$75.00/hr. not $10.00/hr. This is the free market at work. A person is compensated according to the value of his skill. The fewer Doctors there are the more we are willing to pay, because the demand for Doctors has risen according to the availability of this skill - supply and demand.

Conversely; We cannot say to the DD, we feel sorry for you, we know you need more money for your family, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to "modify" (artificially inflate through Unions) the market value of a DD so that you can make more money for you and your family. Because eventually, the market will find a way around the artificially inflated price of the DD and revert to the true value (think jobs going to China).

Labor is nothing more than a huge auction - it is now global. You have a BID (the price at which the market is willing to pay the person for his particular skillset) and an ASK (the price at which individual wishes to sell his time per hour for).

The market controls the BID price for unskilled labor because it can get unskilled labor freely. The market is flooded with unskilled laborers and the market can easily get as much labor as it needs for the cheapest price (think China or India). However;
The market cannot control the ASK price for highly skilled labor (think Doctors - or jobs that cannot be sent offshore). Rather, the highly skilled worker (doctor) controls the market in this case, just the reverse of the prior example. Why? Because there are not enough Doctors to go around. The market is NOT flooded with this type of highly skilled labor. Therefore the Doctor dictates his hourly rate, not the market.

Here's the good news, there are lots of jobs like the Doctor's that cannot be sent offshore. Ask yourself, would most people go to China to see a Doctor? Probably not, this job cannot be shipped offshore.

If you don't want your job going offshore, find a job that cannot be outsourced and IMPROVE YOUR SKILLSETS for that job.

bohm

it's the free market, and it doesn't care if I can make a living wage or not

well, but I do, as a human, care if the DD make a living. dont you? if you honestly answer no, i think you lack compassion.

Here's my point; The process of change has to occur with the DD, not the other way around. In other words, the DD has to say to himself, "Self, you're not making enough money in this DD business, what changes do I need to make in order to make a better wage?

so the DDer think to himself: "But if i and some other DDs got together and told the boss we aint diggin' no ditches before he give us 10% more,problem solved!"

so it seem we have come in full circles.

(updated).

drewcoul

Here's the good news, there are lots of jobs like the Doctor's that cannot be sent offshore. Ask yourself, would most people go to China to see a Doctor? Probably not, this job cannot be shipped offshore.

neither can ditch digger jobs.

Some thoughts on unions

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