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Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

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Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just because a law makes it illegal to discriminate does not eliminate discrimination. It increases the cost of doing so, which is really the point. People and businesses respond to incentives. > small businesses account for the most employees. That's not been remotely true for the past 26 years (you're welcome to find data before that). Businesses with up to 19 employees (i.e. the ones exempt from the Equal Opport…

> It increases the cost of doing so, which is really the point. People and businesses respond to incentives. The CRA increased the incentives to discriminate for small businesses as I am trying to illustrate above and below. > That's not been remotely true for the past 26 years (you're welcome to find data before that). Businesses with up to 19 employees (i.e. the ones exempt from the Equal Opportunity Employment Act…

> The CRA increased the incentives to discriminate for small businesses as I am trying to illustrate above and below.

And as I showed, small businesses make up a minority of employment opportunities. The CRA increased employment opportunities literally everywhere else such as in government jobs. To go from "100% of businesses discriminate" to "50% of businesses discriminate" is an improvement in absolute terms. It didn't take away job opportunities that existed. If a small business was racist before, it would continue to be racist afterward. Do you have proof that small businesses began discriminating more after the CRA than they did before?

> This is easier to do against larger employers with more employees.

Citation needed.

> For me to sue a small employer, whether they employ 100...or 19 employees the statistics are harder to prove because of the small sample size.

Citation needed. In a business that small, everyone knows everyone else. It should be way easier to gather data.

> That establishes a difficulty for minorities to sue small businesses

Whereas before the CRA the option to sue didn't exist at all and all businesses, of every size, could discriminate with impunity.

> I find little comfort in being able to vote, go to school

Fortunately most people disagree with you.

> As I stated before, prior to the CRA wealth...of the largest minority group in the US was rising; according to Thomas Sowell.

That would appear to coincide with the post-WW2 economic boom. I imagine every group in the US got wealthier in that period. I'm not well-versed with all the factors and history after the CRA, but correlation ain't causation.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It increases the cost of doing so, which is really the point. People and businesses respond to incentives. The CRA increased the incentives to discriminate for small businesses as I am trying to illustrate above and below. > That's not been remotely true for the past 26 years (you're welcome to find data before that). Businesses with up to 19 employees (i.e. the ones exempt from the Equal Opportunity Employment Act…

> The CRA increased the incentives to discriminate for small businesses as I am trying to illustrate above and below. And as I showed, small businesses make up a minority of employment opportunities. The CRA increased employment opportunities literally everywhere else such as in government jobs. To go from "100% of businesses discriminate" to "50% of businesses discriminate" is an improvement in absolute terms. It di…

I was trying to logically explain the reality of the situation. I would have a hard time trying to find sources that are going to admit to discriminating publicly. I cannot imagine that survey exists. I'm done.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#683

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The CRA increased the incentives to discriminate for small businesses as I am trying to illustrate above and below. And as I showed, small businesses make up a minority of employment opportunities. The CRA increased employment opportunities literally everywhere else such as in government jobs. To go from "100% of businesses discriminate" to "50% of businesses discriminate" is an improvement in absolute terms. It di…

I was trying to logically explain the reality of the situation. I would have a hard time trying to find sources that are going to admit to discriminating publicly. I cannot imagine that survey exists. I'm done.

> I was trying to logically explain the reality

So was I. My logic is simple to explain:

Pre-CRA - 100% of employers (small businesses, large businesses, medium business, non-profits, governments) could discriminate, and many did.

Post-CRA - Therefore, the number of jobs available to everyone (minorities and non-minorities alike) went up. It's simple math.

I don't understand what your logic is. Because you've said both:

"Small business owners do not hire minorities because they risk being sued when they fire them."

and

"If I want to sue my employer for firing me due to racial reasons, I have to prove in court that they have a practice of discrimination. This is easier to do against larger employers [than]...a small employer. That establishes a difficulty for minorities to sue small businesses, which allows small businesses to discriminate."

So minorities find it harder to sue small businesses, but, also, small business owners don't hire minorities because they risk being sued. What? And small businesses only worry about lawsuits by fired employees, but not ones by candidates who feel illegal bias was a factor in their rejection. Why?

> I would have a hard time trying to find sources that are going to admit to discriminating publicly

Don't necessarily need that. Economists have all sorts of ingenious ways to tease out this information from other labor and employment data, EEO surveys that many employees and candidates fill out, and other things. If there's any evidence of what you're suggesting, there would be clues in that data.

> I'm done.

Me too, friend. Take care and a (slightly belated) happy new year. :-)

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wages vary according to marginal utility rather than total utility. The question is not "what if all teachers disappeared", but "what if one particular teacher disappeared".

Wages for public sector workers are legally defined and, at least, in this case, have very little to do with any measure of utility. Our society is horrendous at measuring utility in almost all long term cases.

In fact, many public sector jobs exist because they are too valuable (or difficult) for the market to pay. In the time before lighthouses were automated, try to calculate the value of the lighthouse keeper who prevented deaths and lost cargo.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea how you got the idea that I support violent revolutionaries. I simply stated that the 13th amendment(Emancipation Proclamation implied connection) resulted in liberty. That liberty was justified by the constitution created in 1776. Without that constitution, however it came about, emancipation may have never happened. My original comment stated that this was a fundamental shift as opposed to the author…

First when you say liberty your mean negative liberty. The supposed shift is from negative to positive liberty. Second The violent revolutionaries are the Englishman that participated in the American Revolution (1776). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_liberty

I do mean negetive liberty. I have never heard of the different types of liberty. Thank you for pointing that out! I need to point out that I do know the constitution was not written in 1776 even though I stated that previously.
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