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U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

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Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#61
post #41
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is only so much money for businesses to allocate towards labor, it is not infinite. Eg: $15K per month for staffing translates to $3750 per week, which translates to $125 per hour at 30 hours per week on average, which translates to ~10 staff at $12 per hour. At $15 per hour that is reduced to 8 staff. Alternatively the hours for 10 staff would be reduced from 30 hours per week to 24 hours per week. The money d…

This only holds true for places where there's no room to increase the staffing budget. There are some industries where it might have an effect, restaurants/coffee shops in particular. But I wouldn't expect mass produced goods/foodstuffs to increase much if at all, simply because of how efficiently the labour is utilised. There are also be potential productivity gains from having workers in a more financially stable p…

> This only holds true for places where there's no room to increase the staffing budget.

Amazon. Enjoy your monoculture.

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minimum wage just forces some ppl to do more productive stuff. It will take away some jobs but you probably dont want such jobs in developed country. It's just better to allow more part-time work IMO. I would like some opinion of Dutch ppl on their part time work law, which seems interesting to me.

"probably dont want such jobs in developed country" You don't want cashiers, wait staff, grocery baggers or call center staff? All of these jobs are generally minimum wage.

Yeah if you arent willing to pay them living wage you probably don't. I'm fine with paying little more than handling it myself. I think amazon Go style shops will get popular. These people probably can transition to different parts of service economy well.

Low skill call centers are total waste of human time, that's why most of it is outsourced. UX just can get improved instead.

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#63
post #52
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think using the word regress seems to imply that it was improving. Wealth inequality in the U.S. has been getting worse at faster rates, even before 2020.

Poverty metrics were improving.

These two seem at odds, are we defining poverty in such a way that it's decoupled from the expected living standard of the age?

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's what OP is saying and if that's the case, they are wrong. Minimum wage is not inflationary. It has other problems like the fact it never ever decreases poverty, and has a good chance of increasing unemployment, and is a one-size-fits all ($15/hr in NY, is different than $15/hr in Alabama) ... but it isn't inflationary. You're not creating new money.

Minimum wage just forces some ppl to do more productive stuff. It will take away some jobs but you probably dont want such jobs in developed country. It's just better to allow more part-time work IMO. I would like some opinion of Dutch ppl on their part time work law, which seems interesting to me.

You want those jobs, but you don't want people to make careers out of those jobs. Someone in high school should be working those jobs, someone supporting a family or trying to build a career shouldn't be! Not sure how to solve this issue though... Age-based minimum wage? Something else?

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#66
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you mean "stocks"?

"stonks" is a common internet meme standin for "stocks". In the same way "pwned" is a standin for "owned", etc.

Ok, so I'm just out of touch is all, thanks ; )

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#67
post #58
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"stonks" is a common internet meme standin for "stocks". In the same way "pwned" is a standin for "owned", etc.

As I've seen it used, "stonks" connotes that you're suggesting somebody who doesn't really understand anything about the stock market, but thinks that what's good for the stock market must be good for America. I think it's not meant to suggest a typo, but rather the slurred accent that comes with being overenthusiastic and loud. I'd compare it to using "Murica" instead of "America" to sugges that somebody is being na…

In some circles, for sure. I've also just seen it used as a goof or an insult. I think it's one of those things that started being used one way but has spiraled off into many different meanings in many different communities.

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#68

Let them eat stonks (Downvotes? "Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", spoken in the 17th or 18th century by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread.)

It's a bad post either way, friend.

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"probably dont want such jobs in developed country" You don't want cashiers, wait staff, grocery baggers or call center staff? All of these jobs are generally minimum wage.

Yeah if you arent willing to pay them living wage you probably don't. I'm fine with paying little more than handling it myself. I think amazon Go style shops will get popular. These people probably can transition to different parts of service economy well. Low skill call centers are total waste of human time, that's why most of it is outsourced. UX just can get improved instead.

>Yeah if you arent willing to pay them living wage you probably don't.

What if they are willing to work for less because it serves their purpose (like a foot in the door in the industry, or something else that you and I can't even think of). For example, we allow unpaid internships because we see the value of it. What about an internship that pays a little? Isn't that better for all?

The problem is you're taking choice away from people who may want it or need it. Why do you think you know better what's good for them than they do?

Re: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

#70
post #63
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poverty metrics were improving.

These two seem at odds, are we defining poverty in such a way that it's decoupled from the expected living standard of the age?

If you define poverty as income related to costs of living and obtaining necessities for living, it should be entirely decoupled from income inequality. If the poorest 20% of americans had their incomes triple over night without a corresponding increase of the costs of living and Bezos becomes a trillionare, poverty would have decrease with income inequality worsening. If the richest Americans all saw 75% of their wealth and income evaporate overnight while the poorest 50% americans lost 10% wealth and income, income inequality would reduce but poverty would still increase.

You might say that income inequality contributes to disparities in political influence which may cause more longterm poverty, but that link has far too many steps in it (political corruption for example) to say the two are now directly linked

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