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Jeff Swann 2y ago

Efforts to impose "living wage" legislation misunderstand that no one is supposed to flip burgers or pump gas or do any other sort of entry level work for a living. If you make entry level jobs & entry level pay illegal you simply make it illegal to hire low skilled people, which prevents the poor from gaining skills.

"Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavor consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for?" ~ F. A. Hayek

https://i.nostrimg.com/25ddc4712c646ed0fc30e14c86ceb3a0fd52abce4a97fc75d445d99f18a13a52/file.webp

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NeoLuddite 2y ago

There is a much more complicated relationship going on here than meets the eye though. There is, and always will be, a push pull relationship in any system. Currency debasement and the raising of taxes is just a slight of hand that allows a Solvern to quietly foreclose and renegotiate it's bad debt at your expense, questionably on your behalf. You will pay one way or the outer. There are only two systems, implicit or explicit

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Jeff Swann 2y ago

It's not that complicated. The minimum wage is always zero. Whatever form of theft the govt engages in cannot be fixed with more govt. The closer govt mandates are to zero, the fewer explicit govt obstacles there are to prevent upward mobility. If there are still hidden problems like inflation or govt spending then those should be addressed too (ideally with tech like Bitcoin), but you cannot fight govt with govt.

The incentives surrounding any force funded centralized authority are always going to be corrupting & aimed at destruction. All well intended govt programs will accomplish exactly the opposite of what was intended. And the most successful govt programs will always be those never intended to do any good at all.

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NeoLuddite 2y ago

I do agree and understand, what is complicated is how to unravel with the least amount of harm and to what end. I do see that bitcoin can reset the time preference horizon of the current system, as well as consolidate technolcal advancements buy incorporating them in to a new system of exchange and storage, but it is just a reset. The emperor has no clothes only because he's putting on new clothes. The kid flipping burgers has not escaped the debt and servitude promised by his ancestors (government). Their entire society and government are the combined result of it, there is no rite or wrong or morality to it. As you say the minimum wage is always 0, so every thing else is just perception, a tool to analyze, measure, manipulate. I dont believe I'm trying to argue just using what you said to ramble myself.

Sorry for the rambling, thank you for your time

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techfeudalist 2y ago

It’s counterproductive because it will just speed up automation. I’ve already seen some fast food places with just a skeleton crew.

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James A Lewis 2y ago

The issue is they keep trying to mandate the bottom level of the pyramid pay for the top level's sins. The reason a living wage is hard to earn is not that the greedy McDonald's owners aren't paying enough but that what they have been paying has suddenly lost value. That is the fault of the ruling class, whom we should be crediting with our economic pain, not our wealthier neighbors.