mmm Adam Smith. This would be the guy who pointed out that an advantage of capitalism over slavery was that you had to feed your slaves. I mean, why not have the courage of your convictions, Gruss? Let's have child labor, do away with unions and work safety regulations, and allow prostitution. Under pure capitalism all of the above should be just fine. The actual answer to your question, why should I have to pay a certain amount, is why should I have to pay even $5.15 an hour? Hey, I am willing to bet that in East Texas right now people are willing to work for a lot less. When I was there in 2001 people in Livingston were fighting over mimimum wage jobs at gas stations and Walmarts.... betcha it's worse now. Why not take advantage of that, and let's hike up the price of gasoline while we're at it. I mean, screw those people in the suburbs, they chose to live there didn't they?
Seriously, I may not have much influence in public affairs, but I have this much - I can pay my employees a decent wage, and I can shop locally rather than at some tax-avoiding chain. For real, someone that talks as much about economics as you do must be familiar with the multiplier effect. Let's say I want a copy of oh, the latest Harry Potter. I get it from Amazon, the money is out of the community to wherever Amazon keeps its bank accounts. I get it from Walmart, it will get expensed against income in some other state like Delaware that doesn't have corporate income tax. If I buy it at a local store, they use it to pay their employees, who live here and conceivably may some daay need me for a side business. Or their employee spends it at the local nursery or diner, which likewise may perhaps need me someday. It only makes actual sense, and it's thinking that I have been following with interest. So although the higher minimum wage may be against my immediate interests, the fact that workers at that income level spend ALL their money means that the effect on the local economy is immediate. I think -- though I am listening for arguments to the contrary -- that the councillor is correct, that economic development as it has been practiced here so far in the form of bonds to underwrite physical plant for out of state corporations who only stay until the tax incentives run out, is self-defeating and ultimately will result in a race for the bottom in terms of the local standard of living. Getting back to my previous example, when you're working three jobs because that's what it takes to pay the rest, no, actually, you probably *don't* have the option of going to school, even if you were otherwise qualified and could afford it. Dana On 9/24/05, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Dana wrote: > > *Does* capitalism really allow each person to set their own standard of > > living? > > I have no clue what you're talking about, but, yeah, I do think > capitalism allows you to pick your own standard of living. It's not > perfect, but it works. > > PS - Sure I had a liberal education! I especially enjoyed Adam Smith > and Ayn Rand. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:174935 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
