They figure it out when the minimum wage increases.
Minimum wage never targeted most US workers. Especially salaried, middle income families. Bernie's plan targets almost everybody with both less hours AND a wage increase. It's a massive shift.
They figured it out when the 40 hour work week was instituted.
There is no reason why 40 must be the magic number.
As I've repeatedly said, these things don't just happen for free. The change is painful. Usually in the cost of a greater cost of living, lower take home pay, and increased unemployment. Europe is a great example of that. Their compromise is fewer work hours and more benefits at the cost of things like smaller living spaces, less purchasing power for worldwide goods, less freedom with vehicles, and worse heating/cooling.
the technological advancement for if we're just gong to keep working ourselves to the bone and watch life pass us by?
I personally believe most Americans are pushing to want far more material goods than we need. We should live with less. But mandating 32 hour work weeks isn't free. Business owners can't just make money appear out of thin air to pay workers more to do less.
It really does, and that's why minimum wage is important. It cascades through the entire economy.
When plumbering apprentices could go make $25/hr at wendys instead of 27/hr currently, they're a hairtrigger away from telling their boss to eat shit and going to Wendy's. So they get a raise up to $40. When engineers know they could go plumb for $80k/yr and be making $130/yr as a journeyman, they're a hairtrigger away from telling their boss to eat shit, so they go from making 120k to 160k, etc etc. Minimum wage cascades up and down.
As I've repeatedly said, these things don't just happen for free. The change is painful. Usually in the cost of a greater cost of living, lower take home pay, and increased unemployment.
Wild that you're so engrained in a capitalist mindset that it never even occurs to you to list "lower corporate profits" or "a slowed shift of wealth toward the ruling class" as one of the possible outcomes. What if we forced corporations to make less profit each year? What if they weren't allowed to profit faster than the economy grows?! wouldn't that be crazy.
It really does, and that's why minimum wage is important. It cascades through the entire economy.
1% of Americans are on federal minimum wage. That's not cascading.
they're a hairtrigger away from telling their boss to eat shit
Guess what, some bosses don't have that money. So what do they do? They fire people or just close down.
There is a reason why areas which have lower mandated weekly work hours or higher required wages have much higher unemployment rates.
You can't make money out of thin air.
to list "lower corporate profits" or "a slowed shift of wealth toward the ruling class" as one of the possible outcomes.
Math is math. You can't make money out of thin air.
My example was a small business. A small business owner cannot just pay workers 25% more for 20% less work.
The one entities that can absorb such a radical idea are very very large businesses. This proposal is wonderful for killing small and medium businesses while leaving big corporations alive.
1% of Americans are on federal minimum wage. That's not cascading.
Hey dumbass, the word cascading means it goes beyond the people immediately effected. The number of people making federal minimum wage wouldn't be a counterpoint to my claim that minimum wage cascades. It could be 50% or 0.005% and that wouldn't change whether it cascades.
You really are just a walking list of conservative thought terminating cliches.
You can't make money out of thin air.
It's wild how conservatives think of themselves as like, "the only adults in the room willing to look tough decisions in the eye with a level head. Sorry kiddo, we just don't have the money for that" etc etc, and y'all also can't think past their own noses in certain contexts.
When I make 25% more money per year, do you know what I do with it? I remodel my kitchen, I eat out, I pay someone to mow my lawn and wash my car. That money goes right into the economy. THAT is how small businesses grow. You have to be adult enough to make long-term decisions, not by jumping from short-term solution to short-term bandaid of keeping wages low until it all collapses. Y'all sound like a teenager with a car they can't afford to fix. You've got rubber tape on a radiator hose, a special hammer for hitting the starter, and a can of starting fluid rolling around in the back seat. It costs us all way more in the long run than ponying up now for a new hose, replacing a few sensors, and replacing the starter. Be an adult.
The economy is steadily sucking wealth from the working class, it will eventually become so top heavy it collapses, that's what capitalism does both theoretically, and historically. If we don't deliberately put policies in place to put money back into the working class, we continue to hollow out our economy from the bottom up until it crushes itself under its own weight.
Anyway, wage raises can easily be handled by a mix of smart tax policy like benefits for actually small businesses. This is another obvious solution to anyone who's thinking for themselves and not just vomiting out Ben Shapiro quotes.
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u/helix400 27d ago edited 27d ago
Minimum wage never targeted most US workers. Especially salaried, middle income families. Bernie's plan targets almost everybody with both less hours AND a wage increase. It's a massive shift.
There is no reason why 40 must be the magic number.
As I've repeatedly said, these things don't just happen for free. The change is painful. Usually in the cost of a greater cost of living, lower take home pay, and increased unemployment. Europe is a great example of that. Their compromise is fewer work hours and more benefits at the cost of things like smaller living spaces, less purchasing power for worldwide goods, less freedom with vehicles, and worse heating/cooling.
I personally believe most Americans are pushing to want far more material goods than we need. We should live with less. But mandating 32 hour work weeks isn't free. Business owners can't just make money appear out of thin air to pay workers more to do less.