On 2010-09-09, at 4:44 PM, Francis Drouillard wrote: >> Everything has an elasticity. >> >> McDonalds is not going to hire 10x more employees because they cost one >> tenth as much. > > Nor would anyone familiar with them infer that from a Supply Demand Curve. > > But the basic observation holds -- if you reduce the cost of something, > demand for it will increase. --
No, it doesn't hold. That's what elasticity means. Demand for milk will not skyrocket if you reduce the price significantly. It has everything to do with where the product sits on the "need vs. want" spectrum. If the business is operating right now, then it has enough staff to do so. The market has been flooded with potential minimum-wage employees for some time. >> They need a range of employees to operate. If the hourly rate goes down, >> it's more likely that businesses will hire more employees on a part-time >> basis, to reduce the number of benefits they'll be required to provide, >> while spending far less in wages overall. > > Wage rates aren't what's keeping employment down in this economy. Rather, > it's the uncertainty promulgated by our current administration as well as its > outright hostility towards businesses in general. -- Reducing the minimum wage will only reduce discretionary spending and further erode consumer confidence. The economy sucks because of the last decade of focus on tax breaks for the wealthy and pro-business regulation/de-regulation. Easy credit in the 90's-00's means that the economy was artificially robust, and lower wages and high debt load now means that the economy is artificially low. Tightening wages will only reduce spending. Business expenses will always be too high when nobody is buying. No one would be talking about expenses if revenues are up. Too many years of idiotic Republican spending and economic practices. Nothing trickled down. No surprise there. >> Being underemployed without benefits is worse than unemployment for many, >> despite being off welfare. > > How so? What are the benefits of unemployment for those that aren't on > welfare? Isn't some income better than none at all? -- An amount of income that makes you ineligible for welfare, but not enough to cover your bills simply eats up your time to look for a new job, while stressing you the fuck out because you still can't pay the bills. Have you never been underemployed? -- Michael -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "StrataList-OT" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/stratalist-ot?hl=en.
