We collectively bear the blame for allowing a system where government subsidizes shareholders and the wealthiest owners of these companies by not paying a living wage.
In this case, these are Amazon government subsidies by way of the disadvantaged. "Why are consumers receiving low prices and shareholder profits more important than workers receiving a wage they can survive on?" seems to be a question no one wants to answer.
As Galloway showed, we don't love our children, or even fellow humans in this context. We love line goes up more. At least we're making progress with the fertility rate going off the cliff, less humans to suffer under this regime in the future.
>In this case, these are Amazon government subsidies by way of the disadvantaged. "Why are consumers receiving low prices and shareholder profits more important than workers receiving a wage they can survive on?" seems to be a question no one wants to answer.
If this is a "subsidy" to Amazon, what do you think would happen if they were pulled? Would amazon be forced to raise wages, or would the wages stay the same (because labor supply and demand is still the same) and the people starve instead?
This is a a false dilemma. Force corporations to raise wages, continue to provide social safety nets (so basic needs are met), and if there is a gap, raise taxes in a progressive fashion. There is enough wealth to not configure the system in this manner; to continue to do so is a choice. It's just a big spreadsheet, you're arguing over a cell or two, I'm arguing over the function result and working backwards from there.
Otherwise, we admit we're just fine with the current setup and that is who we are. We prefer the human suffering for magic numbers in a database.
Ok. So you admit that it's not a subsidy to businesses then and you're just using that word as an inflammatory talking point?
> It's just a big spreadsheet, you're arguing over a cell or two, I'm arguing over the function result and working backwards from there.
The problem is that if you're making wrong observations about these individual cells, you're going to write bad functions trying to wrangle them into the result you want. An example of this is the San Francisco blamed "greedy businesses" on their housing crisis, so they passed a ballot initiative that would raise hundreds of millions in taxes on businesses that they could spend housing. The problem is that housing problem was caused by NIMBYism all along, and despite spending billions of dollars on homelessness since then, their housing crisis only gotten worse and businesses are refusing return to SF even more than other cities.
I think this goes to highlight why capital is winning over labor. Shareholders will do whatever it takes to make money without being blinded by ideology. Amazon investors realize that they would actually benefit from an America with higher labor costs because they are more automated their their competitors and are positioned to capture market share in such an environment. Meanwhile, most regular people are apathetic towards politics and those who care are too committed to their ideology to make good decisions.
No, I still assert government subsidies to people employed below a living wage are corporate subsidies. I am referring to citizens needing a social safety net who do not have an employer, children, or the elderly (social security, medicare, medicaid, wic, snap, section 8 housing, to name a few but not all encompassing).
They fight unions awfully hard for an org proclaiming to want better wages and working conditions for their workers. Amazon wants both the positive PR while maintaining unilateral control over workers.
My talking points aren't inflammatory, they are observations. If the observations are inflammatory, change the state being observed if you don't care for current state being inflammatory. "I don't like the truth" is not a rebuttal, and the truth is pretty terrible based on all available evidence.
> No, I still assert government subsidies to people employed below a living wage are corporate subsidies.
This is the first result with I look up the definition of a subsidy:
> A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive.
You never disagreed with the parent comment that if welfare got pulled, Amazon wages would stay just as low. In fact, states or countries with less welfare tend to have lower wages, so if it's the opposite of a subsidy for Amazon. Therefore, welfare isn't a corporate subsidy. QED.
The vast majority of the world can and does live with off of less than $17/hour and healthcare benefits, which is what Amazon pays for entry level roles these days. Even in the US, that's enough for a single person without children. If Amazon only hired only these people, would that relieve their burden of having to pay a "living wage" to people?
I wonder if social programs were pulled then people would push harder for changes, unions, benefits, etc. As it stands now the social programs keep people pacified.
It's notable that several countries with very strong unions have no minimum wage because there's no feeling of need. Norway, for example, has less regulation of the labour market in this respect than the US (but much more in other areas) in large part because the unions have been strong enough to push through higher salaries without it.
But changing that in the US would be an incredibly long slog.
In this case, these are Amazon government subsidies by way of the disadvantaged. "Why are consumers receiving low prices and shareholder profits more important than workers receiving a wage they can survive on?" seems to be a question no one wants to answer.
As Galloway showed, we don't love our children, or even fellow humans in this context. We love line goes up more. At least we're making progress with the fertility rate going off the cliff, less humans to suffer under this regime in the future.
https://www.ted.com/talks/scott_galloway_how_the_us_is_destr...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...